Journal of Health Information Management
Year:2018 | Volume:15 | Issue:4 (62) |Papers Count:8

Introduction: Treatment information literacy addresses the patients’ therapeutic information during the treatment process, which should be properly identified and directed. The purpose of study was to construct and validate treatment information literacy acquisition questionnaire for patients with cancer. Methods: The study population in this survey research was 570 patients with cancer undergoing treatment at Omid hospital in Mashhad, Iran. The sample consisted of 227 patients who were selected via stratified random sampling. The used tool was a researcher-made treatment information literacy questionnaire which was distributed in June 2017. Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI) were used to determine the content validity while the Bartlett sample spheroid test was used for the structure validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the designed questionnaire. Results: Among 40 items of the questionnaire, 37 items were accepted by CVR. Furthermore, the score of the CVI was 0. 76 which indicated the validity of the tool. The significance of the Brutel test was 8250. 258d and the significance level was 0. 001, which indicated that the sample size was suitable for performing factor analysis of patient treatment information literacy components. The results of factor analysis showed that the prepared questionnaire was multidimensional, and had 6 components which according to percentage of variance and special value included drugs, treatment methods, nutrition, experiments, treatment costs, and sport (exercise). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for all components of the questionnaire was higher than 0. 7 in the pretest and final test, which indicated the reliability of the tool. Conclusion: This questionnaire helps medical teams in charge of patients with cancer to recognize the information needs of their patients in various components of treatment information literacy, and to meet their information needs.

Introduction: Analysis of performance and productivity is one of the most important challenges for managers in the health centers. In this study, an integrative approach of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity indicator was used for performance analyses of family health teams in clinics affiliated to Isfahan Petroleum Industry Health Organization (PIHO), Iran. Methods: This was a correlational research in terms of research problem. Therefore, by determining indicators of input and output affecting the performance of family health teams, relative performance was specified at different times. Then, by calculating the four-way distance, the growth rate of unit productivity was determined during these timeframes. Data were also extracted from PIHO Family Health database (Sokhan) and integrative approaches of DEA and Malmquist productivity indicator were used for productivity analysis. Finally, sensitivity analysis was used for determining important output variables. The data for this research were collected during the years 2015 and 2016. Results: Isfahan PIOH family health teams were ranked for two different timeframes based on their relative performance. Furthermore, their productivity growth rates were also calculated at these intervals. The most important factor affecting the efficiency and effectiveness was family visits. Conclusion: Decision making based on different criteria for the evaluation of health efficiency and performance, can be one of the most important achievements of this method. The application of this study can be used to enhance the capacity of various health services, and to save resources.

Introduction: Over the past years, with the rising cost of health care in most countries and the importance of proper functioning of health centers due to their close relation with human life, much attention has been paid to various parts of hospital performance. The main goal of this article was improving the quality of health services by measuring the performance of hospital rapid emergency department using lean principles in order to improve the effectiveness in this sector. Methods: To achieve comprehensive lean concepts in a health system, Goodson’ s method has been developed for emergency department. This method uses an expert team and a questionnaire and a rating sheet as measuring tools. The developed method was evaluated in one of the major emergency centers in Tehran City, Iran. Results: Lean principles were defined based on special features and dynamic environment of emergency department. Moreover, according to the Goodson’ s method, a specific questionnaire was designed as the measuring tool. Conclusion: Fast measurement by this model helps administrators of health sector to identify lean implementation problems in the minimum amount of time without wasting resources. This method is a parallel and complementary approach to other evaluating methods.

Introduction: Qualitative information is necessary for planning, decision-making, and performance management. Scales for assessing the Performance of Routine Information Systems Management (PRISM) have international applications as tools for data quality assessment. So, the aim of this study was to survey the validity and reliability of these scales in the context of Iran. Methods: This was a descriptive study. In order to determine the validity and reliability of these scales, first, they were translated to Persian. Then, an expert panel with 20 members was used to determine the validity of the scales. In order to determine the reliability, the tools were used in 50 primary health care centers in Mazandaran Province, and the Kuder-Richardson and Cronbach’ s alpha reliability coefficients were used as well. Results: The expert panel confirmed the content validity of the scales. These experts, while maintaining the original structure and dimensions of the tools, modified them by making some changes including eliminating, adding, and/or modifying some items. The reliability coefficients of these scales for Kuder-Richardson and Cronbach’ s alpha were estimated to be 0. 72 and 0. 77, respectively. Conclusion: Translated PRISM scales are appropriate instruments for assessing the performance of health information systems, as well as quality assessment of routine health system data in Iran.

Introduction: Mothers’ health has a special importance due to their responsibility in providing the conditions necessary for their children’ s health. This study aimed to investigate the health information needs of mothers of children younger than two years old referred to healthcare centers in Bushehr City, Iran. Methods: In this descriptive study, the statistical population constituted of mothers of children under two years old in Bushehr City. Data collection was done using a researcher-made questionnaire whose credibility was measured by content validity and formal validity methods in quantitative and qualitative ways, and its reliability was measured by stability test method (test-retest) and Cronbach’ s alpha. Mothers were selected using convenient sampling method. The results were described using descriptive statistics. Results: The most important information needs of mothers regarding their and their children’ s health included information of proper behavior toward their new child, other children, and husband. Their first motivation for seeking and obtaining information was their interest in information, and the main sources of data were physicians. Conclusion: Results of this study show that mothers needed information regarding their health and that of their children. This fact shows that current information and trainings given to mothers by healthcare systems is insufficient.

Introduction: Health literacy is considered as a global issue, and is considered by policymakers because of its role in decision making of individuals in health-related areas as one of the basic tools for improving the health of the community. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of health literacy among secondary school girl students in Tabriz City, Iran based on demographic characteristics. Methods: This was a descriptive-survey study. The statistical population of the study was 25112 secondary school girl students in Tabriz City. The size was 387 using Morgan table, and they were selected using two-stage cluster sampling method. The research tool was Montazeri et al. standard health literacy questionnaire which had 5 dimensions and 33 items. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance analysis (MANOVA). Results: There was a significant difference between the scores of students' health literacy and their dimensions, accessibility, reading, understanding, evaluation, and decision making, in the three age groups. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the reading, comprehension, assessment, and decision-making scores of students in the five areas, but there was no significant difference between the access scores of students in the districts. Conclusion: The results of the study could be used in education programming to improve health literacy among students. The students, who find more educational achievement via this programs, are the main beneficiaries in this regard.

Introduction: Health care systems are known as complex systems, which are difficult to analyze and reengineer. Health system engineers often rely on Unified Modeling Language (UML) to model and simulate various parts of these systems. The purpose of the current studywas to identify the most widely used and least-practicable UML diagrams as well as the range of applications of this language in the field of health care for documenting, analyzing, and designing an efficient system. Methods: The study was a systematize review. All the articles related to UML applications in the field of health care were extracted from March 2010 to July 2017 using valid keywords from the Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, and Elsevier Scopus databases. After screening, 48 articles were selected and analyzed via two 12-hours concurrent sessions. Results: Three diagrams of class, activity, and use case were the most usable UML diagrams, and four diagrams of component, collaboration, object, and profile were the least used diagrams in designing and modeling in various fields of health care, respectively. In addition, in the domain of applications, infrastructure group, disease management, and knowledge discovery had the highest use of UML, respectively. Conclusion: Considering the fact that UML applications scopes over all aspects of the system in three areas of disease management, knowledge discovery, and health care infrastructure both in software and hardware systems, designing and modeling this application domain with UML will facilitate the reengineering and promotion of organizations, and develop interactive systems to support the linkages between different parts of the health care system and collaboration between project partners.