Health Information management
Nahid Tavakoli; Hossein Bagherian
Abstract
Introduction: Emergency departments of hospitals play a very important role in the health system, and the effectiveness of these services can be effectively increased by using health information technologies. The purpose of this study was to prioritize the challenges of implementing electronic medical ...
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Introduction: Emergency departments of hospitals play a very important role in the health system, and the effectiveness of these services can be effectively increased by using health information technologies. The purpose of this study was to prioritize the challenges of implementing electronic medical records in the emergency department of selected hospitals in Isfahan.Methods: This descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted in 1401. The research population included doctors and nurses from Al-Zahra, Kashani and Amin hospitals of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The data was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of this tool was confirmed based on the opinions of 10 experts, and the reliability of the questionnaire was obtained by calculating Cronbach's alpha of 0.85. Data analysis was done using SPSS statistical software software and presented via Mean and standard deviation.Results: The findings showed that challenges in the organizational field, technical field, human field, and financial field had the first to fourth priority, respectively, among the organizational challenges, the increase in the workload of health service providers, the complexity of the processes of accepting and providing services to emergency patients and the lack of necessary infrastructure for electronic transmission of information to interested organizations has been assigned the highest priority.Conclusion: The effective implementation of electronic medical records in the emergency department of the studied hospitals requires the development of effective processes for accepting and providing medical services to emergency patients, providing the necessary organizational and technical infrastructure for proper access of health service providers and other users to electronic records. and providing funds for training users.
Seyed Jamaloddin Tabibi; Amir Ashkan Nasiripour; Ali Ayubian; Hossein Bagherian MahmoodAbadi
Volume 9, Issue 3 , May and June 2012
Abstract
Introduction: Medical tourism marketing is currently known as a competitive and profitable industry throughout the world. It is considered as a modern field of developed tourism. Appropriate provision of information would increase the awareness of medical tourists about the capabilities of health services. ...
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Introduction: Medical tourism marketing is currently known as a competitive and profitable industry throughout the world. It is considered as a modern field of developed tourism. Appropriate provision of information would increase the awareness of medical tourists about the capabilities of health services. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of information mechanisms on attracting medical tourists in selected hospitals of Tehran, Iran.Methods: In a descriptive, cross-sectional study in 2011, over 195 directors, administrators, matrons, quality promotion authorities, supervisors, and head nurses of 8 hospitals in Tehran were included. A valid and reliable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.88) 2-part questionnaire was designed to collect data. Data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics in SPSS.Results: There was not a significant relation between information mechanisms and medical tourist attraction (P > 0.05). Among the variables of information mechanisms, only media advertising was significantly related with attracting medical tourists (P = 0.05). However, other variables including brochures, manuals, TV programs, electronic methods, and organizations responsible for tourism had no effects on attracting medical tourists.Conclusion: Since media advertising was the only effective factor in attracting medical tourists, it seems that international advertisements about the potentials of Iranian hospitals would help in attracting more medical tourists.Keywords: Travel Medicine; Medical Tourism; Information Science.
Husain Bagherian Mahmoodabadi; Mehrdad Setareh; Mandana Nejadnick; Mahbube Niknamian; Ali Aubian
Volume 9, Issue 1 , March and April 2012
Abstract
Background: The prevalence of new diseases and increased number of patient referring to health care centers cause more medical malpractice. This study aimed to identify the frequency and reasons of medical errors in cases referred to Isfahan Legal Medicine Commission during 2005-2009. It also tried to ...
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Background: The prevalence of new diseases and increased number of patient referring to health care centers cause more medical malpractice. This study aimed to identify the frequency and reasons of medical errors in cases referred to Isfahan Legal Medicine Commission during 2005-2009. It also tried to provide ways to reduce such errors. Methods: In a descriptive, cross-sectional study, 380 cases of medical errors referred to Isfahan Legal Medicine Commission from 2005-2009 were evaluated. Due to inaccessibility and incompleteness of information, and also uselessness of some cases, 352 cases were finally investigated. The data was collected by a checklist whose validity was obtained by the opinions of experts in several stages. Data collection methods were resource review and observation. Data was analyzed by SPSS11. Results: The 352 studied records included claims from individuals. Among physicians and surgeons, general practitioners were claimed more than others (15.3%). Anesthesiologists, obstetrics and gynecologists, general surgeons and orthopedic specialists were claimed in 9.3%, 8.3%, 7.6%, and 7.4% of cases, respectively. Among other health care professionals, nurses had the highest frequency of claims (9.8%). They were in the second rank of total sentences. In addition, 36.9% of sentences led to conviction among which general practitioners were in the first place (15.3%). The average age of staff was 43 years. The highest frequency of claims (23.2%) was observed in the age group of 35-40 years. Males constituted 68.2% of the medical staff. Among the 23 cases of administrative staff errors, 91.3% cases led to conviction. In 35.2% of cases, negligence was the main reason of medical malpractice. In 46.4% of the issued convictions, a blood money of 1-10% was determined. Conclusion: Our results showed that patients' claims of medical staff were increased during the past 5 years. In fact, while 62 cases belonged to 2006, 108 cases were reported in 2010. Although medical errors are inconsiderable when the delivered health care services are concerned, identifying their reasons and a proper health care management would lead to higher quality of provided services. Key Words: Malpractice; Forensic Medicine; Health Services.
Mohammad Hossein Yarmohamadian; Raheleh Samooie; Rahim Khodayari Zarnagh; Ali Ayoobian; Hossein Bagherian Mahmoodabadi
Volume 8, Issue 8 , January 2012, , Pages 1122-1128
Abstract
Introduction: Agility means ability to respond and react quickly and successfully toenvironmental changes. Agility is an important factor for hospital effectiveness. Agility in ahospital indicates the hospital's responsiveness when faced with internal and external changes. Ifhospitals are designed to ...
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Introduction: Agility means ability to respond and react quickly and successfully toenvironmental changes. Agility is an important factor for hospital effectiveness. Agility in ahospital indicates the hospital's responsiveness when faced with internal and external changes. Ifhospitals are designed to be agile, they should have the ability to compete with other hospitalsand provide appropriate services to their patients. This study compared agility in public andprivate hospitals in Isfahan, Iran in 2009.Methods: This descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009. The studypopulation included the executives of administrative and financial sectors, health sector, andparaclinics, as well as supervisors in Khorshid, Chamran, Khanevadeh and Sina Hospitals. A totalnumber of 130 individuals (calculated according to Cochran formula) were selected from the fourmentioned hospitals. Data collection tool was the 42-item Likert-scale questionnaire of agility.The maximum and minimum scores of the questionnaire were 168 and zero, respectively. Thequestionnaire was valid and reliable based on the experts in the field and a Cronbach's alpha of0.96, respectively. Data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods in SPSS16 .Results: Mean agility scores public and private hospitals were 103.7 and 113.9, respectively.Although a significant difference was observed between mean agility scores of selected hospitalsin Isfahan (P < 0.0001), public and private hospitals were not significantly different in terms ofagility (P > 0.05).Conclusion: Agility in both public and private hospitals was higher than moderate. In order toimprove agility in hospitals, using strategies and solutions such as flexible organizationalstructure, outsourcing of supplies and services, professional development of staff and preparationto face the environmental changes are required.
