Journal of

Background and Aim: Analysis of efficiency in hospitals, as the most expensive operating unit of the health system, is very important. This costly unit has several departments that one of them is medical records. This study is trying to analyze the efficiency of medical records department for the enhancement of using medical records facilities.

Materials and Methods: In this study, technical, scale and managerial efficiency of medical records department has been studied by data envelopment analysis method, and assuming the scale efficiency variable and the input axis. Information used in this study was the input variables (number of technician personnel and lower and Master of Science personnel and higher), output variables (number of emergency and outpatient and inpatient medical records and the number of filing unit visitors to respond) during 2007-2009.

Results: The average technical efficiency of medical records departments is 84 percent, that indicates there is at least 16 percent capacity for an increase in performance. Average of management and scale Performance in units during the 3 years of study are 95 and 89 percent respectively. Most input surplus is relevant to technician and lower personnel. The average performance of these units in general hospitals is 80 percent and in specialized activities is 92 percent.

Discussion and Conclusion: Relationship between studied indicators in this study with performance medical records departments showed that using such as employee personnel with undergraduate degrees and higher and educated in medical records filed, the use of managers with enough experience in this department and more use of computer systems for unit activities can fill 16 percent capacity of performance improvement in these units.

Background and Aim: With the increasing spread of technology, the use of telemedicine to treat diseases is increasing. Diseases of the ear, throat and nose, are among the most common illnesses, especially among children, which can be diagnosed and treated through tele-otolaryngology.

Materials and Methods: This comparative study is conducted in the United Stated, Australia and England. The information needed for the present study was collected from print sources such as texts, journals, and articles found in such databases as Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Web of knowledge, Google Scholar, and Scopus. To this end, certain key words like Telemedicine, Telehealthotolaryngology, ENT, ear diseases, otology and Teleconsultation were used.

Results: The most common way to send information is through the standard otoscopy, video-otoscopy and videoconferencing equipment (Audio-Video Receiver). The information needed for Telehealthotolaryngology includes demographic information (patient's name, identification number, date of receiving services) together with the data related to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease (disease history, radiology and scan results, eardrum images, laboratory results and previous consultation results).

Conclusion: For telehealthotolaryngology, suitable equipment is required to transmit audio-visual data properly so that ENT specialists and audiologists can benefit from it in their examination and treatment. The application of this method can help patients to economize on their treatment expenses and to follow their treatment in a better way.