JOURNAL OF HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
Year:2013 | Volume:16 | Issue:52|Papers Count:10

Introduction: Considering the importance of selecting competent people for governmental organizations to obtain optimal effectiveness and performance, this study aimed to investigate the impact of similar-to-me effect among top and middle managers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.Methods: The present cross- sectional study was conducted on 130 top and middle managers affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used for data collection. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the data.Results: There was significant statistical relationships between similar-to-me effect and group think (p=0.005), functional conflict (p=0.001), and narcissism (p<0.0001).Conclusion: Based on the results, it is recommended to inform managers about inappropriate impacts of similar-to-me effect by means of education and cultural training.

Introduction: ClimateQual is an international survey tool, created by the Association of Research Libraries in 2009, for assessing organizational climate in libraries. This study aimed to assess the organizational climate of the libraries of Mazandarn and Babol Medical Universities based on ClimateQUAL indicators.Methods: This analytical survey was conducted in 2012. The research population included all library staff in the libraries of Mazandaran & Babol Medical Universities. A researcher-made questionnaire, based on 9 indicators included in ClimateQUAL, was used for data collection.ANOVA and t-test were applied for data analysis.Results: The Average of 96.97 and 84.108 Were found for organizational climate of libraries in Mazandaran and Babol University of Medical Sciences, respectively. The climate for creativity and innovation, teamwork, continuous learning, psychological safety and management in the libraries was inappropriate. T-test showed that organizational climate of the libraries was significantly different (P=0.012). ANOVA results indicated that the the employee's attitudes towards organizational climate was significantly different (p=0.026).Conclusion: ClimateQual, can be used as a standard tool for assessing organizational climate in libraries. This could provide suitable strategies to promot healthy work environment for librarians.

Introduction: Among the chronic diseases, diabetes is considered as a silent disease and self caring for these patients deeply affects their treatment and finally their quality of life. This study was conducted to assess the effect of educational programs in promoting the quality of life of diabetic patients.Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 60 diabetic patients were selected by simple random sampling and were divided into two case and control groups. The instrument was a standard questionnaire of measuring quality of life which was completed during an interview before the intervention. After determining the educational needs of the patients, an educational program was held for the case group. The data were analyzed using SPSS-17 and Paired t-test.Results: In both groups, from 60 patients under study, 45 women were aged 50±3.2: The average change of the quality of life was 65±5.8 in case group and 41±3.5 in control group. The results of the data analysis showed a statistical meaningful difference (p=0.001).Conclusion: According to the findings, the educational program was effective in improving the general health and the quality of life of diabetic patients.

Introduction: studies show that organizations using transformational leadership, achieve high levels of growth and development. For this reason, in recent decades, transformational leadership has become an unavoidable necessity, because through transformational leadership organizations can improve their competitive advantage such as organizational learning. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational learning at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.Methods: Research method was descriptive-correlative. To collect data, 117 employees at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were surveyed. Research instruments were to questionnaires: 1) Bass and Avalio s transformational leadership, and 2) Neif s organizational learning. Reliability coefficients were.87 and.88 respectively, using Chronbach s formula. The collected data were analyzed using one- sample t-test, and Pearson correlation.Results: Findings showed that there are a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and its components (Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualized Consideration) with organizational learning. The collected data were analyzed using one variable t-test, and Pearson correlation.Conclusion: according to the findings, it can be suggested that the existence of transformational leadership can result in the improvement of organizational learning.

Introduction: The high rate of catastrophic health care expenditure is a challenging problem societies face today. Identifying the influential factors on the expenditure is an important measure which should be taken to control them. In this study, the catastrophic health expenditure and its influential factors were examined.Methods: Within the framework of Health Center Province, 400 households were selected in winter 2011. The WHO's health questionnaire was completed for them by the researchers. The incidence of catastrophic health expenditure was evaluated in accordance with the World Health Organization definition and influential factors on the expenditures were investigated by using Stata software 11.Results: It was found that 8.3 Present of the families of Yazd province were exposed to catastrophic health expenditure. The use of inpatient services was shown to have the largest amount in paid-out-of-pocket expenditure and their relationship to incidence of catastrophic health expenditure was found to be significant. It was, moreover, found that the relationships between family sizes, persons below 5 years old in the families, and the use of medical services and diagnosis with catastrophic health expenditure were significant.Conclusion: The variables of medicine, diagnosis, inpatient services and persons below 5 years old in household and family size should be seriously taken into account by policy makers to control Catastrophic Health Expenditure.

Introduction: Owing to the critical importance of emergency department activities in saving lives, information systems of this department should be free of fault to prevent the incidence of errors.Usability evaluation methods are used to assess this quality measure. Heuristic evaluation is one of the methods which identifies usability problems with minimum amount of time, cost and resources.The objective of this research was to evaluate the usability of emergency department admission subsystem of health information systems in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.Methods: Using Nielsen's 10 usability principles, three trained evaluators, independent of each other, evaluated the corresponding subsystem and determined the severity of identified problems.All the problems, identified by independent evaluators, were collected in a single list and the mean severity of each problem was calculated.Results: A total of 163 usability problems were identified. The lowest mismatch with usability principles was related to “error prevention” (3 %) and the highest was related to “consistency and standards” (27 %). The average severity of problems varied from 2.3 (minor problem) concerning “system's visibility” to 2.9 (major problem) concerning “help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors”.Conclusion: Heuristic Evaluation can be used to identify a high number of usability problems related to health information applications in health care systems. If remain unsolved, these problems may waste users’ and patients’ time, increase errors, reduce data quality, and in general, threaten patient's safety.

Introduction: Monitoring and assessing the quality of health services in relation to accountability is the first step in providing proper services in hospitals which as the most important health organizations entail the need for evaluation. The aim of this study was to validate the ethical, legal, financial, operational, political, structural, cultural and information dimensions of accountability (notification rules of hospital) in teaching hospitals.Method: This was a method validation study. A sample of 580 participants, working in teaching hospitals, was selected by quota random sampling using Krejcie - Morgan formula. An 8 item questionnaire with 34 indicators on the basis of Likert scale was distributed among the staff. The data were analyzed by the Lisrel software using confirmatory factor and path analysis and multiple regressions.Results: The findings showed that comparative fit index of different dimensions of the questionnaire, showing the degree of consistency of the model with real data, was equal to 1. This suggests the strength of the one-dimensional model. Cronbach's alpha for the internal consistency of different dimensions was 0.791 for financial and 0.901 for information aspects.Conclusion: The present study provides a systematic process and model to validate and assess different dimensions and components of accountability for managers. The innovations and special features of this study will help present a new model to identify better dimensions and indicators for improving accountability in health care sector.

Introduction: Retraining programs for nurses are usually run as workshops and group discussions causing challenges as limitations on the number of participants, long lasting duration and high costs. Since most of these programs are taught by instructors working outside of clinical setting, it is necessary to use a method to train large groups of nurses in a short time. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of lecture-based training delivered by the peer nurse on the EKG interpretation knowledge of critical care nurses.Methods: In this experimental study, two out of seven intensive care units of Semnan University of Medical Sciences were randomly selected as the experimental and control groups with 11 nurses each. Data collection on nurses’ knowledge about electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation in the experimental and control groups was done through a questionnaire containing 25 questions. Then, one of the nurses in the experimental group who obtained an acceptable score was selected and was considered as a lecturer in the same group after receiving additional training on interpreting ECG.She taught ECG interpretation principles to nurses in one session. After one week, nurses’ knowledge on ECG interpretation in two groups was measured. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Significant difference was observed in the total scores and areas of ECG interpretation between pre and post test in the experimental group (P<0.01). A significant difference was also found in the mean of changes of mean scores in total scores and areas of ECG interpretation in the same group (P<0.01).Conclusion: Lecture-based training delivered by a colleague can be considered as a cost effective and efficient method for ECG interpretation education; therefore, it is suggested that health care managers concentrate on empowering their personnel and invite them to teach in retraining programs.