Journal of Health Information Management
Year:2016 | Volume:13 | Issue:1 (47)|Papers Count:13

Introduction: Physicians’ resistance to accepting and adopting Electronic Health Care Record (EHCR) is still a serious challenge to the nationwide adoption of EHCR. As a result, identification of the factors that contribute to this challenge is valuable. Thus, this study was performed to survey the effect of physicians' characteristics on adoption of EHCR.Methods: A Descriptive-analytical survey was applied in this study. The study population consisted of physicians who worked in 26 hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. From among them, 270 physicians were selected to participate in this research. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire the validity and reliability of which were confirmed. The data were collected, and then, analyzed using path analysis in structural equation modeling (SEM) in SPSS and AMOS software.Results: The results showed that there is no significant correlation between physicians’ characteristics, such as age, work experience, computer familiarity, and EHCR familiarity, and perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). In addition, no significant correlation was observed between physicians’ characteristics and the technology acceptance model (TAM) variables.Conclusion: Physicians’ characteristics did not have any significant effect on accepting and adopting EHCR. Therefore, it is suggested that policymakers and managers focus on other factors that affect EHCR acceptance and implementation.

Introduction: The queue is one of the most complex social systems in which human lives are inevitably associated with the activities of organizations. Due to the characteristics of healthcare organizations and the critical role that planning plays in such organizations, research in this regard can be of great help. This paper was an attempt to demonstrate the role and use of the branches of the operations research discipline in healthcare centers.Methods: The current research was a cross-sectional study conducted on 2614 patients referred to the paraclinic ward of Hafez Hospital, Shiraz, Iran. In order to collect data, the patient code, time of arrival, work start time, serving start and end time were recorded with the help of staff and two assistants at the time of arrival of the patients. Then, modeling and optimization of patient flow were conducted using queues and simulation techniques. The data was analyzed using SPSS software and Input Analyzer Software and the system was simulated using Arena software.Results: The results showed that 30% of the patients no longer wished to be referred back to the center. The findings also revealed that there was a significant difference between the standard waiting time and the time spent in the hospital to recive a service. Among the 6 different scenarios, the mixed scenario reduced waiting time of the first service for sonography patients to 75.04 minutes and for radiology patients to 65.573 minutes.Conclusion: The results showed that the suggested model, in comparison to the current model of health centers, can improve the quality of services and reduce the duration of time patients must wait until receiving the first service.

Introduction: Pathology reports generally use an unstructured text format and contain a complex web of relations between medical concepts. In order to enable computers to understand and analyzethe reports’ free text, we aimed to convert these concepts and their relations into a structured format.Methods: The training, validation, and evaluation of this implementation study was based on a corpus of 258 pathology reports with a positive diagnosis of celiac disease randomly selected from among the records of 2 pathology laboratories. Our proposed system consisted of 3 phases of standardization of celiac disease pathology reports using Delphi technique with 3 experts, information extraction from free text reports with text mining techniques using Stanford Parser, and automatic classification of celiac disease stages in marsh system using decision tree classifier J48 algorithm.Results: We were successful in extracting information from free text pathology reports and assigning each piece of information to the associated pre-defined fields in standardized template form with an accuracy of 76%. After determining marsh stage for each report in the third phase, our system showed an average overall accuracy of 62%. Evaluation of the third phase as an independent system with manually corrected, gold-standard input achieved an accuracy of greater than 84%.Conclusion: The benefits of standardized synoptic pathology reporting include enhanced completeness and improved consistency, avoidance of confusion and error, and facilitation of the faster and safer transmission of critical pathological data in comparison with narrative reports.

Introduction: Improvement of services in any organization depends on the professional growth and promotion of knowledge and proficiency level of the employees. Accordingly, evaluation of librarians' knowledge and proficiency level seems to be essential.The goal of the present research was to study the competences of librarians of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.Methods: The present research was of descriptive survey. The study population consisted of 67 librarians in Kerman University of Medical Science. The required information was gathered using the Librarians' Competencies Questionnaire which consisted of 115 questions in the framework of 7 competencies. These competencies consist of management, classification, organization, information services, information technology, research, and communication. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by specialists, and its reliabilitywas determined using Cronbach’s alpha (0.98). The data was analyzed using descriptive methods and SPSS statistical software.Results: The results showed that the average competency score of the librarians regarding management, classification, organization, informative services, information technology, research, and communication was 4.09, 3.87, 3.61, 3.81, 3.35, and 4.17, respectively.Conclusion: The findings of this research revealed that the librarians of Kerman University of Medical Sciences obtained higher scores in communicative competencies compared with other competences. As a result, they require more knowledge and skills in competencies of research, information technology, and organization.

Introduction: Fair access to health care services is every individual’s right in society and governments should provide these services. The purpose of the present study was to prioritize strategic factors influencing health care management using a hybrid approach in the context of public hospitals.Methods: The current research was an applied, descriptive survey. It was based on a hybrid approach including a combination of Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (ANP) for prioritization of strategic factors influencing health care management and Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) for identification of the extent of the effects of strategic factors of health care management. In addition, the studied hospitals were ranked using the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Questionnaires were used for collection of data from 6 public hospitals in 2014.Results: SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis criteria used in the present research comprised of 4 main criteria and 16 sub-criteria which were ranked in the present study. Among the 6 public hospitals studied in the present study, Poursina Hospital obtained the first rank and Rasoul Akram, Amir-al-Mo’menin, Heshmat, Hefda Shahrivar, and Razi Hopitals obtained the following ranks, respectively. Each of the Criteria and sub-criteria obtained a rank based on their importance in the health care sector.Conclusion: The results of the present research can contribute to the improvement of the performance of health care management by determining the importance of the criteria and sub-criteria associated with SWOT analysis.

Introduction: Quantum management is a novel way of management presently used in organizations. The aim of this research was to study the relative contribution of quantum management to job engagement dimensions among the employees of physical education departments of Iranian medical sciences universities.Methods: This was an applied, descriptive, and correlational study. The study subjects consisted of 220 employees working in physical education departments of medical sciences universities of the country in 2014. The sample size was calculated as 132 using the Krejcie and Morgan’smethod. The stratified random sampling method was used according to the total population of this research. Data collection tools consisted of a researcher-made quantum management questionnaire (21 items) and a job engagement scale (17 items). The regression test was used for analyzing data.Results: The improvement of employees’ job energy, job absorption, and job dedication were predicted by quantum seeing, quantum thinking, quantum feeling, quantum knowing, quantum acting, quantum being, and quantum trust. Moreover, quantum management had a positive and significant correlation with job energy, job absorption, and job dedication dimensions (P£0.05).Conclusion: The use of quantum management methods could be helpful in improving and strengthening the employees’ job engagement in organizations, especially physical education departments of Iranian medical sciences universities. In addition, it would promote the attaining of organizational goals in organizations.

Introduction: The quality of the provided services impacts the existing and potential customers’ intention to reuse the services and their loyalty. Moreover, service providers can prevent customers from leaving their current organizations and switching to the competitors, through establishing switching costs. This research investigated the effect of perceived service quality and customer switching costs on customer loyalty in hospitals.Methods: The current research was an applied research, and the data were collected using a questionnaire based on descriptive survey method, and structural equation modeling (SEM). In order to analyze the data, SPSS and SmartPLS software were employed.Results: The positive and meaningful impact of perceived service quality and switching costs on customer loyalty was confirmed.Examination of the effect of service quality dimensions on loyalty showed the positive and meaningful impact of tangible factors, trust, assurance, and empathy on customer loyalty. However, responsiveness had no impact on loyalty. In addition, the moderating role of switching costs on the relation of perceived service quality with customer loyalty, and tangible factors, trust, assurance, and empathy with customer loyalty were confirmed. Nevertheless, the relation of responsiveness with loyalty was not confirmed.Conclusion: According to the research results, it is recommended that hospitals attempt to increase the loyalty of their customers through improving the quality of their services, and establishing switching costs.

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.

Introduction: Today, scientific collaboration has a rising trend in scientific journals. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to analyze the co-authorship network among authors of the Journal of Health Information Management (JHIM).Methods: The present applied and descriptive study was conducted through social networks analysis approach. In the present study, 568 articles published in the JHIM from 2006 to 2014 were studied. The data were analyzed using UciNet software and SPSS software.Results: The findings revealed that a large amount of the articles were the results of the collaboration of three main authors. In addition, 25% of the authors were the most influential individuals in producing journal papers. These authors mostly collaborated with authors of lower rank. The authors were divided into 3 categories of outstanding, active, and non-active.Conclusion: It can be concluded that co-authorship has had a rising trend in the JHIM. As the results revealed, the number of articles with multiple authors has increased. It seems that the increasing of outstanding authors should be one of the policies of this journal.