Maryam Jahanbakhsh; Majid Matinfar; Sakineh Saghaeiannejad-Isfahani; Akbar Hassanzadeh; Habibollah Nikafraz
Volume 14, Issue 5 , October 2017, , Pages 199-204
Abstract
Introduction: Hospital websites have a high potential for providing information and services to customers. The assessment and comparison of hospital websites determine the extent of their utilization and contributes to the formation of constructive competition between hospitals. Therefore, the present ...
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Introduction: Hospital websites have a high potential for providing information and services to customers. The assessment and comparison of hospital websites determine the extent of their utilization and contributes to the formation of constructive competition between hospitals. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparative assessment of the websites of public and private hospitals.Methods: This applied research is an analytical-descriptive study and was conducted in 2017. The study population included 13 public hospital websites and 3 private hospital websites in Isfahan, Iran. The data were gathered through a checklist based on 11 main and 69 sub-criteria and analyzed by inferential statistics.Results: There was a significant difference between the average of scores obtained from public and private hospitals’ websites in terms of the 4 main criteria including contact information and access methods, admission service and reservation, features, design and updating of pages and public relations. However, there was no significant difference between the average of scores obtained in terms of 7 other criteria and the overall score.Conclusion: The assessed websites did not fully utilize web capabilities and did not have a favorable status. Therefore, according to the results of this research, the authorities in this area must provide the information and services to the customers in a desirable way so that they can compete with other hospitals in order to attract more customers and improve customer satisfaction.
Haniyeh Sadat Sajadi; Rouhollah Zaboli
Volume 13, Issue 1 , May 2016, , Pages 55-60
Abstract
Introduction: The health system reform plan is currently being implemented in Iran due to the emphasis of health policy makers and planners on the financial protection of patients, equity in access to health services, and improvement of the quality of hospital services. This study aimed to ...
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Introduction: The health system reform plan is currently being implemented in Iran due to the emphasis of health policy makers and planners on the financial protection of patients, equity in access to health services, and improvement of the quality of hospital services. This study aimed to investigate the positive effects of health reform plan from the perspective of hospital directors. Methods: This qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted in December, January, and February of 2015. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The participants were selected through purposive sampling from among hospital directors and managers in Tehran, Iran. The content of 18 interviews were audio-typed, transcribed, coded, and then, analyzed using NVivo software. Results: The positive effects of health reform plan implementation were categorized into 8 themes and 21 sub-themes. The main themes were insurance coverage of patients in need of healthcare, performance indicators improvement, hospital management system modification, interhospital referral system improvement, improvement of patient payments control and management, improvement of selected quality indicators, increased health system accountability, and increased hospital income. Conclusion: Implementation of the health reform plan in Iran may result in the increasing of patient satisfaction and improving of health services quality if sustainable financial resources can be provided for the plan.
