Showing 41 results for Service
Mohammad Rahim Ramezanian, Hamed Gheibdoust,
Volume 15, Issue 4 (1-2017)
Abstract
Introduction: High quality health care service leads us towards a healthy society. Present paper aimed to use the service quality concept in health care sector based on service quality approach (SERVQUAL) in public hospitals. Methods: In present research a hybrid approach based on Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Fuzzy TOPSIS was used where the former was used for prioritization of healthcare service quality measures and the latter was used to operationalize the hospitals. Questionnaires and ANP and Fuzzy TOPSIS were used for data collection and analysis. Five public hospitals in Rash were evaluated. The time period of the study including data collection was 2014-2015. Results: The service quality criteria comprised of 6 main criteria and 19 sub-criteria in present study. Among five hospitals studied in present research, Rasoul Akram hospital obtained the first rank and other hospitals obtained the other ranks. All criteria and sub-criteria used in present study obtained some rank indicating their importance in the research context. Conclusions: With conducting present research, various criteria and sub-criteria related to service quality (SERVQAL) and their importance were identified and this may contribute to improved performance of health care services
Morteza Maleki, Amin Kohyari Haghighat, Ali Kohyari Haghighat,
Volume 15, Issue 4 (1-2017)
Abstract
Background: The growing importance of hospitals in physical and mental health improvement has led to focus on improving service quality; and hospitals have considered it as a major competitive advantage. This study aimed at investigating the role of improving services quality on hospital brand preference in healthcare industry.
Materials and Methods: This applied study was a descriptive one. A sample of 394 patients selected using stratified and convenient sampling from hospitals of Shiraz city. Data gathering using questionnaire; in order to data analysis, LISREL8.80 and SPSS19 were utilized using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques. Data analysis was used to confirm the relationships between variables.
Results: Study results indicated that there was a significant positive effect of service quality on patient satisfaction, patient loyalty and brand equity of hospital. Patient satisfaction had positive effect on patient loyalty to the hospital and the loyalty had significant effect on hospital’s brand equity. Finally, the effect of hospital brand equity was confirmed on hospital brand preference.
Conclusion: According to the study results, it can be suggested that hospitals management take some measures for service quality improvement which can be enhanced hospital brand preference among other hospitals, both spreading justly public health in all layers of society as well as increasing profitability.
Keywords: Service quality, Brand Preference, Hospital
Mohammadreza Tavakkoli, Dr. Saeed Karimi, Dr. Marzieh Javadi, Dr. Alireza Jabbaria,
Volume 16, Issue 1 (4-2017)
Abstract
Background: In year 1995, new system administration plan of hospitals (fee for service) was notified. This scheme was implemented in hospitals for 20 years. In the early September 2104, new guidelines of performance-based fee for service plan with the aim of deficiencies in the previous plan was reviewed and implemented in hospitals in Isfahan. This study aimed at investigating reform strategies to improve monitoring performance and infrastructure implementation development of the new scheme of fee guidelines in 2014.
Materials and Methods: This study was a qualitative one based of phenomenology. Depth interviews were used to collect data. Eleven individuals assessed including top and middle managers and professors of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences using content analysis method.
Results: In this study, eight main themes and ten sub-themes extracted including appropriate policy making, health management reform in health system, cultural building in monitoring, proper planning, physicians' motivation, infrastructure improvement, improving training, informatics and constructive interactions between senior managers and hospitals' directors.
Conclusion: With the aim of rationalizing the health system, new instructions and fee for service plan should be considered well to tackle weak points. It seems that coping with these weak spots in new fee for service plan, has feasibility to provide more satisfaction among physicians and staff. To achieve main goal of the project which defined as patients and staff satisfaction, using new reform strategies to facilitate plan implementation, continuing observation and stronger mentoring recommended.
Dr Roghieh Bayrami, Dr Hossein Ebrahimipour, Alireza Rezazadeh,
Volume 16, Issue 2 (7-2017)
Abstract
Background: Pre hospital emergency medical service (EMS) as the first line of emergency care and treatment in the out- of -hospital has a considerable importance in the health care system. Planning on finding about strengths and weaknesses and improve the quality of EMS by exploring the problems of this section has considerable important.This study aimed to explore the challenges of pre hospital emergency medical service in Mashhad.
Materials and methods: A qualitative study was done with 14 personnel working in EMS sites in Mashhad using purposeful sampling. Data was collected by semi structured interview and analyzed using conventional content analysis approach according to Graneheim and Lund man 2004 with ATLAS.ti software.
Results: Three general themes were identified including 1) "challenges in Human resources"( Individual characteristics of human resources and personnel's dissatisfaction 2) "challenges in organization" (Structural challenges, lake of equipment and human resource limitation 3) "socio-cultural challenges"(Environmental-social challenges and cultural challenges) were determined.
Conclusion: personnel's dissatisfaction, structural challenges, human resource limitation, lake of equipment and Environmental-social challenges were the most important challenges in pre-hospital emergency system. Organizational independence , create organizational rows, regulation of laws and administrative regulations reform in relation to the range of services offered by emergency personnel, attention to the facilities and cooperation And the participation of other organizations, such as media and traffic to enhance pre-hospital emergency services at the community level can be effective in reducing the challenges in hospital emergency system.
Elham Haghshenas, Dr Mohammad Arab, Dr Abass Rahimi, Dr Elham Movahed,
Volume 16, Issue 2 (7-2017)
Abstract
Background: The quality of services is a comparison of the customer´s perspective (expectations) with what it has received. If the expectations are more than perceptions, the quality of received services is not sufficient based on customer´s view which resulted in his/her dissatisfaction. The present study performed with the purpose of determining the quality of provided and excepted services to outpatients among hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Material and Methods: The present study is a descriptive- analytics and cross sectional one which has been done in 2015. The study population included all outpatients attending hospital clinics affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences.The sample size was calculated 225 participants based on formula. In order to data gathering in quality of provided and expected services, a 22-items standard questionnaire of Servqual was utilized. Data analysis performed by SPSS using paired t-test, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.
Results: The study findings represented that there was a negative gap in the quality of services provided. The highest gap was related to accountability (-0.97) and the lowest gap related to tangibles factors (-0.69) .Moreover, regarding to relationship between demographic variables with perceived service quality, there were significant relationship between insurance type with reliability and empathy dimensions and supplementary insurance with tangibles factors and reliability.
Conclusion: Negative gap (higher expectations than perception) in all aspects of quality improvement is required in all dimensions. Especially, it is necessary to adopt some strategies in the accountability dimension. Reforming management processes, reducing waiting times and increasing employees' motivation in order to achieve appropriate accountability are in this kind of strategies.
Rouhangiz Asadi, Dr Masoud Etemadian, Dr Pejman Shadpour, Fatemeh Semnani,
Volume 16, Issue 4 (2-2018)
Abstract
Background: In recent years, Hashemi Nejad Hospital was outsourced or insourced some of their services to private sector or will have decision to do it. Selection and assessment of suppliers in outsourcing of hospital services is a critical issue. In this study, selecting and evaluating suppliers for outsourcing services in hospitals was evaluated.
Materials and Methods: In order to achieve the goal, evaluating and selecting outsourcing service providers with studies and using opinion of the experts and medical experts, consisting of hospital manager, quality manager, HR managers, officials outsourced parts and other experts in this respect which includes 14 criteria. Identified criteria were clustered in three areas of service features, characteristics and criteria for communications suppliers in the supply chain; supplier selection problem is the problem multi-criteria decision. So, criteria were ranked and weighted using the Expert choice 11 software and AHP.
Results: Based on the study results, sub-criteria of the quality of service, management systems, customer care, and information security had greatest impact on the selection of suppliers and sub-criteria, geographic location, flexibility and problem solving had the lowest priority.
Conclusion: C supplier had the highest priority according to the communication criteria and A supplier had the highest priority according to two other criteria. In total, the supplier A had the first priority, supplier B had the second priority and supplier C had the third priority.
Dr Mohammadjavad Taghipourian , Behrooz Alizade ,
Volume 17, Issue 1 (5-2018)
Abstract
Background: Today, in order to reduce costs along with the realization of superior qualities, assignment of all or part of the responsibility for performing a specific organizational task outside the organization is a great importance. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the role of corporate culture on the quality of working relationships in outsourcing activities at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Materials and Methods: This research was a correlational study. The study population consisted of all the staff of the outsourced units of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Staff who were in contact with outsourced units included 600 individuals. To collect data, a questionnaire based on Zoghbi et al study (2014) was utilized. Two hundred fourteen analyzable questionnaires were collected using multistage cluster sampling method.
Results: Structural simulation results with LISREL software revealed that corporate culture had a positive impact on the quality of working relationships during outsourcing of activities. Hierarchical culture was associated with adverse impacts on disruptions in customer service and orientation. Ethnic culture had a positive effect on both components. The market culture had a positive impact on obstruction and had a negative effect on customer oriented. Temporary culture had no significant impact on both of components.
Conclusion: given that the quality of working relationships between staffs of outsourced units and organizational staffs is of utmost significance for organizational productivity; the interest of managers affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences regarding corporate culture, and also, strengthening hierarchical and ethnical culture is noteworthy to improve customer orientation and reducing disruptions in customer services.
Dr Ebrahim Jaafaripooyan, Tahere Sharifi, Dr Sara Emamgholi Poor, Dr Mir Saeed Yekani Nejad, Samaneh Esmaeili,
Volume 17, Issue 2 (9-2018)
Abstract
Background: Hospital accreditation is assumed as an effective control mechanism for health systems to improve quality and efficiency. Current study thus, seeks to look into the relationship between hospitals’ accreditation and efficiency
Materials and Methods: In order to measure efficiency, hospital inputs and outputs included the ratio of physician and nurse to bed, mortality and nosocomial infection rate and quality of inpatientservices were used. A sample of 554 hospitalized patients selected using stratified random sampling
method. Data gathering instruments were researcher-developed questionnaire and checklists. DEAP and SPSS software deployed to assess correlation between accreditation rank and technical efficiency
Results: Average hospitals’ technical efficiency score was 0.94 indicating an improvement capacityof %5.1 for hospitals efficiency. The mean quality score was 4.13 out of 5( in the range of 3.9-4.3)There was no correlation between hospitals accreditation rank and their technical efficiency
Conclusion: According to the results, it seems efficiency should be also considered in accreditationmetrics. In addition, for measuring efficiency, performance based inputs and specifically outputs tohave reliable results should be chosen
Dr Alimohammad Mosadeghrad, Mahnaz Afshari, Rahman Nasrolahi, Sareh Daneshgar, Rasoul Corani Bahador ,
Volume 17, Issue 2 (9-2018)
Abstract
Background: Insurance companies sometimes do not reimburse hospitals completely. Reducing the amount of deduction of bills increases hospital’s income and efficiency. This study compares the deductions imposed by social insurance organization on Imam Khomeini hospital’s bills before and after the implementation of health transformation plan.
Material and Methods: Data of this descriptive-descriptive study calculated from the deductions applied to the hospital of outpatient and inpatient bills of social insurance organization in second six months of 2013 (before implementation of health transformation plan) and the same time of 2014 (after implementation of of health transformation plan). This quasi experimental study was conducted using the data. Data was analyzed by SPSS software using paired t test.
Results: The bill deductions in the second six months of 2013 compare to the same time in 2014 were 2.9 and 11.1 percent, respectively. Hospital bill deductions increased 282.8 percent after the health transformation plan implementation. The deductions on inpatients and outpatients records increased 6 and 12 times, respectively. Most deduction was imposed on surgical and laboratory bills in 2013 and on radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hoteling bills in 2014.
Conclusion: Deductions of hospital bills extremely increased from social insurance organization after implementation of health transformation plan. In order to identify deductions causes, providing related education to staff and physicians and relative process improvement are necessary.
Ali Alizadeh Zoeram, Dr Alireza Pooya, Dr Zahra Naji Azimi, Dr Ali Vafaee Najar,
Volume 18, Issue 1 (5-2019)
Abstract
Background: In service organizations such as hospitals, human resources (HR) play a key role in the quality of service delivery. Lack of a systemic attitude in terms of system dynamics, HR planning have been somewhat distant from reality. In order to solve such a problem, this study aimed to modeling the dynamics of human resources capacity management system in healthcare services.
Materials and Methods: This case study is one of the cases at a clinic of Khatam -al-Anbia Eye Hospital of Mashhad which was used to simulate the system dynamics approach. In the implementation process, after modeling and formulating in Vensim software, the model was validated and appropriate policies were identified based on simulation results.
Results: The simulation results revealed a gap existence between service capacity and desired capacity led to a work pressure. Consequently, time per service relative to the standard time per service (0.333 hours equivalent to 20 minutes) as the core of service quality has been reduced (cutting corners of time). To counteract such a situation, appropriate policies were identified during the time in a dynamic manner using sensitivity analysis based on changing patient acceptance rates and human resource changes.
Conclusion: The proposed model provides the status for hospital managers which allows them to manage appropriate human resources in the same conditions with a viewpoint of causal relationships with respect to system dynamics.
Jafar Yahyavi Dizaj, Dr Sara Emamgholipuor Dashti, Faroogh Na'emani, Reza Reza Hashempuor,
Volume 18, Issue 4 (1-2020)
Abstract
Background & Aims of study: Hospital care and paramedical services has become one of the most important and problematic issues in the field of health and critical concern of health planners and policymakers. In current study, contribution of various paramedical services costs were extracted from the total household health expenditure.
Materials and Methods: The current study is a descriptive study that was conducted in a 5-year study period from 2011 to 2015. The annual income-based survey data of the household provided by Statistics Center during 2011-2015 was used to achieve the study aims. Excel_2013 software was used. Contribution of household and paramedical services cost were calculated from household health expenditures per year in urban and rural areas.
Results: Regarding the results of the current study, on average, 20 % of total household health expenditure is allocated to paramedical services in urban and rural areas. The cost of radiology, sonography, radiotherapy, scan, echo cardiac stress test, endoscopy, electrocardiogram (ECG) etc, accounts for the largest contribution of hospital and non-hospital paramedical services costs, which include an averagely about 50 %t of paramedical services costs.
Conclusion: Understanding paramedical services costs can guide policymakers and decision-makers in the field of paramedical services to decide better. Moreover it helps them to reduce direct payments from the pocket of household health expenditures. Therefore, considering the laboratory sector and radiology, sonography, radiotherapy sectors and so on are very important to reduce paramedical services costs.
Somayeh Fadaei, Mostafa Kazemi, Fateme Nezhad Shokoohi,
Volume 19, Issue 1 (4-2020)
Abstract
Background: Assessing and improving the quality of services in hospitals because deal with the health of humans is very important. The purpose of this study is to identify and weigh quality criteria and ranking of four hospitals in Mashhad.
Materials & Methods: The present study is of type Applied Studies that is a cross-sectional study conducted in the winter of 1396. In this study, by literature review, dimensions of service quality in the hospital was identified. Then, a paired comparison questionnaire (including 8 people) was used to conduct the survey. Then coefficients of importance of each dimension were calculated through the process of hierarchical analysis in a fuzzy environment. Decision-making matrix questionnaire was completed by a 400-person sample of patient companions in four hospitals.Then, hospitals were ranked using GRA-TOPSIS method. The validity of questionnaires were confirmed by the expert group.
Results:Using FAHP, knowledge and skills of medicine obtained the most important coefficient. Also, using GRA-TOPSIS, third hospital received the fourth place in the provision of services. Also in the third hospital the quality of access requires the greatest improvement.
Conclusion: In addition to ranking hospitals based on quality of service criteria, the GRA-TOPSIS method is able to identify each hospital's weaknesses in each criterion. As a result, the priorities for improving the quality of service in each hospital were identified, and the hospital manager could work to improve performance on the criteria that he or she achieved with lower performance than other hospitals.
Mani Yousefvand, Alireza Zali, Sajjad Razavi, Hojjat Rahmani, Saeed Manavi, Noureddin Sharifi, Elham Salehian, Ghasem Rajabi Vasoukolai, Bahman Khosravi,
Volume 19, Issue 3 (11-2020)
Abstract
Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the income changes resulting from the implementation of this book in the hospitals of the University of Medical Sciences.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted based on retrospective information related to the first half of 1398 of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Data related to this study were collected from patients' records using hospital information system and hospital intelligent management system of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. In order to analyze the data, the average of Rials per service was used for each hospital and type of admission.
Results: The results showed that with the implementation of the book of relative value 2018, the total income of the studied hospitals will increase by 10.67%. In total, the share of total book codes included in the study is 41% of the total, of which 20% is the professional component, 19% is the technical component and 2.4% is anesthesia. After book codes, hoteling with 26% and consumer goods with 14% and medicine with 11% make up the rest.
Conclusion: The approach of the 2018 book is more towards temporary inpatient services and encourages providers not to admit patients to receive services. Also in this book, the proper growth of the technical component of services will occur, which in other words indicates the approach and encouragement of investment in the hospital sector.
Sara Karami Parsa, Leila Nazarimanesh, Mahmood Mahmoodi Majd Abadi Farahani,
Volume 19, Issue 3 (11-2020)
Abstract
Background and Purpose: The importance of hospital quality services in order to best utiliz available resources are not unknown to managers. This is especially important in the maternity sector due to the high density of referrals. Implementation of LDR (Labor, Delivery, Recovery) is one of the new approaches to improve delivery services in the country. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of LDR system on quality of delivery services in two selected hospitals of Qom.
Methods and Materials: This is a descriptive-survey study. Data were collected with a cross-sectional approach to compare the quality of service indicators of a hospital with LDR system as a case and a hospital without LDR system as a control group. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire by Poisson sampling and analyzed by SPSS software.
Results: There was no significant difference between the two hospitals except for LDR implementation. There was no significant association between LDR implementation in delivery sector with overall quality of service indicators (3 vs. 2.5) , input, process and output quality indices. However, LDR implementation had a significant effect on some items of these indices (level of significance = 0.05).
Conclusion: According to the research findings, implementation of LDR did not have a significant effect on overall quality of services, but it did affect the subscales of these indices. Therefore, it seems clear that there is a need for proper management policy to control the costs involved in implementing this system.
Ebrahim Jaafaripooyan, Batoul Ahmadi, Baheshte Ebrahimi,
Volume 20, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Background and Aim: Expenditure in the health sector requires appropriate resources management. This study was conducted to determine the amount of moral hazards associated with the service providers in the medication prescriptions paid by an insurance organization.
Methods: Study population included paid pharmaceutical documents in Tehran province in 2019. 2000 prescriptions for 500 insured people were randomly selected from the database of the organization. Two indicators (the number of suspicious prescriptions based on the incompatibility of a drug with the history of the disease or the drug spectrum of an insured and the number of prescriptions with a financial burden higher than the average usual burden of a normal patient) were matched with transcript data and analyzed with SPSS version 24. An experienced pharmacist was consulted to examine the drug spectrum of all prescriptions.
Results: 5.4% of total prescriptions were incompatible drugs and 6.4% had created extra financial burden. The highest incidence of risks by speciality was related to general practitioners (16 % with a surplus financial burden of 87/500/000 Rials). The highest number and amount of risks in Rials per insured group was related to supervisors (63 % with a surplus financial burden of 26/000/000 Rials). The risk in the military centres’ prescriptions were more than private and governmental centres and it was relatively equal in contracted (48%) and non-contracted (52%) centres.
Conclusion: The abuse in the health service provision is a high risk for health care managers in countries that have health insurance programs which their intelligent tracking reduces many of the insurers’ costs and prevent the shortage of vital medicines.
Ali Rezapour, Forough Roodgarnejad, Nima Ranji Jifroudi,
Volume 20, Issue 3 (12-2021)
Abstract
Introduction: Health tourism is one of the most lucrative and competitive industries in the world and is a new field of tourism. The purpose of this study is to present a conceptual model of health tourism development on community welfare.
Materials and Methods: This research is qualitatively exploratory. The study population included university professors and health tourism managers. Fifteen people participated in the study through purposive non-probabilistic sampling and through semi-structured and in-depth interviews. Data analysis was performed with MAXQDA10 software and a grounded theory approach based on three stages of open, axial and selective coding. To check the validity, two methods of participatory feedback and receiving the opinions of colleagues, and to ensure the reliability of the interviews, two methods of retesting and two coders were performed.
Results: The data analysis was based on 100 keywords (open source). By identifying the relationship between the codes, 18 common concepts were categorized. The main concepts were categorized according to the axial coding method. Because traces of medical and health facilities, health tourism infrastructure, and relationship development policies were seen in most of the interviewees' quotes, they were selected as the central sub-categories of health tourism and these three items were placed at the center of the model. And other categories were associated with it.
Conclusion: The development of health tourism is a tool for the development of society and increases investment in the political, social, cultural and economic sectors of society, creates employment, increases income and people's satisfaction and vitality, and promotes the development of welfare, the improvement of the quality of life and wellbeing.
Bahareh Hashemi Moghaddam, Mohammad Reza Karimi Alavije, Najima Sadat Kianoosh Fard, Shahin Ebrahimbabaei,
Volume 20, Issue 4 (12-2021)
Abstract
Introduction: The concept of patient satisfaction has become very important in the field of healthcare and the major part of this satisfaction is affected by the quality and variety of hospital hotel services.
The main purpose of this study is to analyzing the effect of quality of non-medical services (hoteling) of hospitals on satisfaction considering the mediating role of satisfaction with health services in Shahid Fayyaz Bakhsh, Shahid Hasheminejad and Masih Daneshvari hospitals.
Method: The type of this study is of applied and descriptive-correlational. The statistical population of this study included 48043 recipients of services in the mentioned hospitals. The sampling method is simple relative random judgment and Krejcie and Morgan table was used to determine the sample size. information collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. In order to analyze the data and test the hypotheses from descriptive and inferential statistics through SPSS22 software and also to check the model fit and confirmatory factor analysis from Lee software. Shannon entropy method was used to measure the importance and weight of the studied variables.
Results: The weight and priority of each of the research variables implied that the views of service recipients in the field of non-medical services of hospitals, services during treatment, cleaning services, welfare services, human resources, buildings and facilities, and patient nutrition were respectively high to low priorities.
Conclusion: Recipients satisfaction of non-medical services was average. Establishing partnership management system and determining their medical priorities and needs might increase their satisfaction .
Raziyeh Montazeralfaraj, Sajjad Bahariniya, Sara Jambarsang, Fatemeh Sadat Hashemi,
Volume 21, Issue 4 (1-2023)
Abstract
Introduction and purpose: The main mission of hospitals is to provide quality services for patients. Evaluating the quality of hospital services can lead to the targeted allocation of financial resources to areas that are in worse situation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the quality of services of university hospitals in Yazd province.
Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 2020-2021 in 12 university hospitals of Yazd province. In order to conduct the study, the standard questionnaire of SERVQUAL was used. This questionnaire is made up of two parts, administration and expectations, and each of them contains 28 questions and 6 dimensions. The sampling method was stratified randomly. Data analysis was done in SPSS version 24 software.
Results: 225 patients participated in the study. The majority of patients were over 50 years old (46.7%). The average score of patients' expectations (128.99±8.12) at the high level, the average score of patients' perceptions (107.98±8.62) at the middle level, and the average score of the total quality of hospital services (236.97±12.24) at the high level reported. In both areas of perceptions and expectations, the dimensions of reliability, responsiveness and assurance had a higher mean score and the physical or tangible dimensions, empathy and access had a lower mean score.
Conclusion: The service quality of university hospitals in Yazd province was in a good condition, but the average score of perceptions was lower than the score of expectations. Although there was no deep gap, it is necessary for hospital managers to pay more attention to improving the quality of services.
Mohaddese Arefi, Farzad Firouzijahantigh,
Volume 22, Issue 3 (12-2023)
Abstract
Background and purpose: The organ transplant network is among the most complex and challenging systems in the healthcare sector. This study presents a three-objective hierarchical location model for kidney transplants, aiming to simultaneously minimize total time and costs while maximizing geographic equity in the supply and demand network for donated kidneys. Various transportation modes within the network are also analyzed.
Materials and Methods: This applied research was conducted over a one-year period in 2022 (1401 in the Iranian calendar) in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan. The proposed mathematical model was implemented in GAMS software and solved using the Torabi-Hosseini method and epsilon constraint technique.
Results: The model recommended establishing candidate locations for organ collection units and transplant centers without the need for air transport equipment. It suggested that only the candidate location number 2 at Zabol Hospital Transplant Center should be equipped with air transport facilities, while the other proposed locations do not require the establishment or use of air emergency services.
Conclusion: The results indicate that the designed kidney transplant network is practical and feasible. Efficient network management ensures that all organ recipients, even those far from the provincial center and in remote areas, have timely access to the necessary facilities and equipment for transplant operations.
Asgar Aghaei Hashjin, Ali Nemati, Seyed Mohammad Tabatabaee Jabali, Pouria Farrokhi,
Volume 22, Issue 4 (1-2024)
Abstract
Background and purpose: Iran is ranked among the top ten nations in the world for hosting a large number of migrants and refugees. During the COVID-19 outbreak, refugees and migrants were among the most vulnerable groups. This study aimed to investigate the extent of healthcare service utilization by refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic in healthcare centers affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2021 in Tehran. The research environment included all healthcare networks and general and specialized hospitals. Data were collected through document review and registered information in the Sina system. All provided services were categorized into four groups: primary care, outpatient, emergency, and inpatient services. Data analysis was performed using the Chow test and Interrupted Time Series model with the Wats and Sctest software packages in R version 4.3.0.
Results: The decrease in utilization of outpatient, emergency, and inpatient services by refugees and migrants was significant (P-value < 0.001), whereas the decrease in primary care services was not significant. Additionally, after the onset of COVID-19, only the utilization of inpatient services showed a significant increasing trend (P-value < 0.013).
Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the utilization of all healthcare services by refugees and migrants, including primary, outpatient, emergency, and inpatient care, decreased. It is recommended to provide complete insurance coverage for refugees, offer free treatment for impoverished refugees, increase awareness among refugees to encourage greater use of health services, reduce existing social and economic barriers, and facilitate interaction between healthcare providers and refugees.
