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Fatemeh Esmaili, Dr Mohammadhosein Mehrolhassani, Dr Reza Goudarzi, Dr Mohsen Barouni,
Volume 18, Issue 2 (8-2019)
Abstract
Background: Considering the increasing growth in health care costs along with the resources finitude; therefore, improving the efficiency and efficient use of resources is considered as one of the main priorities of the health system. The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency of direct medical services affiliated with Iranian Social Security Organization using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) Method in 2008-2015.
Materials & Methods: In this descriptive- analytical study, performance of 30 units of direct medical services affiliated with Iranian Social Security Organization was analyzed using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) Method. The number of active beds, physicians, nurses and staff were used as inputs and combined variables obtained from factor analysis were selected as output. Frontier version 4.1 was used to determine the efficiency and Stata version 14 was used to study the effective factors on efficiency.
Results: The average technical efficiency of studied units was 0.816. Based on the value of index of likelihood ratio test ( LR = 100.45 ), Cobb-Douglas production function was selected as the best model.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, adjusting surplus manpower, congenital planning for increasing efficiency and resource management should be the priority of the managers so that they can increase the level of efficiency of studied units and reduce the costs to the least possible.
Zinab Shaker, Zohreh Shaker, Mohsen Barouni, Asma Sabermahany,
Volume 21, Issue 1 (5-2022)
Abstract
Background and Aim: Hospital is organization which its performance improvement is very important. In order to do this, we must evaluate the allocated resources and performance of hospitals. Calculating hospitals efficiency is one of the possible ways to evaluate the performance of them. In this study, the efficiency of allocated financial and human resources of public hospitals by provinces is examined.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in 2017-2018. Data were collected from 31 provinces of Iran. Input (including: number of physicians, number of nurses and number of active beds per ten thousand population) and output (number of hospitalizations and number of outpatients per ten thousand people). Data were collected from studies. The efficiency analyzing of the provincial treatment department was performed with DEAP software.
Results: The input population (nurse, doctor, bed) is related to hospitals and health centers in Semnan, Yazd and Mazandaran provinces And the least amount of input was related to Sistan and Baluchestan, Khuzestan, North Khorasan provinces. The highest output (inpatient and outpatient) belongs to East Azarbaijan province and the lowest output belonged to Hamedan province. Efficiency score, variable return to scale and constant return to scale for all hospitals in the country are 0.565, 0.813 and 0.47, respectively.
Conclusion: proper and correct distribution of resources between provinces may increase efficiency of resource distribution.
Leila Vali, Hojat Farehmandnia, Ahmadreza Mohammadpour,
Volume 23, Issue 2 (8-2024)
Abstract
Background and purpose:
As people age, physical dysfunction often increases, leading to various challenges and a heightened need for urgent medical services. Elderly individuals are among the primary users of healthcare and pre-hospital emergency services. Their subjective experiences during emergencies are influenced by their need for timely and relevant information regarding emergency procedures and their clinical condition—a need that is also shared by their caregivers. This study aims to elucidate the experiences of elderly individuals who have used pre-hospital emergency services in Shiraz.
Methods:
This qualitative study was conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 elderly participants using purposeful and snowball sampling until data saturation was achieved. The interview transcripts were analyzed using Colaizzi’s method to extract key themes. In Phase 2, a panel of experts was convened to further discuss the findings and provide recommendations.
Results:
Analysis of the interviews revealed several themes related to the elderly’s experiences with pre-hospital emergency services. These themes were categorized into sub-themes including ambulance condition, performance of technicians, timeliness of emergency response, and issues related to emergency rules and regulations. In Phase 2, the expert panel offered practical solutions to address the identified challenges.
Conclusion:
The findings indicate that elderly patients face significant challenges when accessing pre-hospital emergency services, such as poor ambulance conditions, suboptimal technician performance, delayed emergency response times, and restrictive emergency protocols. The recommendations provided by the expert panel could inform policy development and lead to improvements in the quality of pre-hospital care for the elderly.
