ABSTRACT
Introduction: Information Flow is one of the most critical aspects of information management in organizations. This study aimed to review three aspects of information flow: 'acquisition', 'production and storage', and 'dissemination' of information in the research centers affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences as well as their relationships with parent, parallel, and competing organizations
Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional survey, data were collected by means of valid and reliable questionnaires. Kruskal Wallis Test was used for data analysis through SPSS
Results: Findings showed that there was a significant difference among centers in terms of emphasis on different kinds of 'information acquisition sources' [?[2]= 365.40, df= 10, p=0.000], 'methods of information acquisition' [?[2]= 32.40, df= 10, p=0.000], 'types and formats of storage of information' [?[2]= 27.22, df= 10, p=0.001] and 'carriers of production and storage of information' [?[2]= 28.18, df= 10, p=0.001]. But In regard to emphasis on 'audiences', 'methods and formats', and 'carriers' of dissemination of information, there were no significant differences among research centers [?[2]= 6.20, df= 10, p=0.695], [?[2]= 6.40, df= 10, p=0.795] and [?[2]= 16.95, df= 10, p=0.070, respectively]
Conclusion: The current associations going on in the research centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences are mainly pertinent to two types of organizations: the parent organization [the University] and the aligned organizations. Altogether, relationships between the aligned and the competing organizations have not been defined yet. It can generally be said that the information flow is incomplete in the research centers under study
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The rise in healthcare costs, population and technology development has led to an increased demand to consider productivity issue in hospitals and other medical centers to provide, preserve and promote public health services. The aim of this study was to analysis the productivity in hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences
Methods: In this study, partial and marginal productivity of each factor of production, as well as the total factor productivity changes of hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences were calculated using Kendrick-Kerimer and Malmquist indexes in 2006-2011
Results: The average total of productivity changes was 1.012 which implies a decrease in productivity during the study. The rate of reduction was 1.2, mostly affected by technological efficiency changes compared with other factors. Scale efficiency changes, managerial efficiency and technical efficiency were the next effective factors. Total productivity, checked with Kendrick-Kerimer index, was affected by productivity of active bed input
Conclusion: Lack of knowledge on the part of hospital staff concerning the proper use of technology in patients' treatment is the main cause of productivity loss caused by technological changes in these hospitals. Therefore, it is recommended to hold training courses for staff on the correct use of technology in diagnosis and taking care of patients
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The purpose of this study was to analyze Iran's scientific status of neuroscience field in citation indexes between 2002 and 2008. In this descriptive survey, Web of Science [WOS] database was used for data collection. The Data were gathered from the subject areas of this database and then categorized in 14 subfields according to experts opinions of the field. Impact Factor and number of citations were the indexes considered to determine the citation patterns. Data analysis was performed by using HISTCITE, Excel 2007, and SPSS 18. A rising trend for neuroscience papers was observed between 2005 and 2008 with neuropharmacology being the most interested subfield of publication [264 papers]. There were fewer papers on artificial intelligence, neurohistory, and psychopharmacology than other neuroscience subfields. Most international collaboration was seen in neurology field of study [46 papers]. Iranian researchers had scientific collaboration with other countries in 168 papers in which Iranian authors were the first authors [58.33%]. 87% of the papers were published in journals with an impact factor between 0 and 4. Researchers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were the author of 25% of papers. As the progress in the field of neuroscience, in Iran, was mostly focused on the subfields of pharmacology and neurology, it is recommended to give high priority to other subfields in health policies
ABSTRACT
Currently, qualitative research, because of its explanatory and semantic findings, has become popular. There is a growing literature on qualitative research motivating researchers on topics like: live experiences, excitements and feelings, social motions, interactions between men and societies, causes, emergence and degeneration of phenomena to investigate. Thus, the required tools for this kind of research are extending in number every day. This study was conducted on qualitative research and its data analysis software by a literature review. Principles of qualitative research were explained by experts' ideas and qualitative research approach in functional areas including librarianship and information sciences. Principles of qualitative research were also explained concerning software applications. Finally, some of the most applicable software for qualitative data analysis was introduced in details. Qualitative research follows men and phenomena in their natural environment, and its findings are explanatory in nature. Moreover, there is no standard research method, or any definite method of analysis. The findings suggest that it is necessary to use standard tools for data processing in qualitative research as there is the likelihood that the results be invalid and blended with personal judgments. Although the software does not deliver standard methods for data analysis, it may control different stages of research including information collection, data classification and report generation which would eventually improve the status quo
Subject(s)
Statistics as Topic , Software , Library Science , Information ScienceABSTRACT
The recognition of economics of hospitals, as integral and costly components of health care systems, is vital for assessing their efficiency and the factors affecting them. The study through Data Envelopment Analysis [DEA] aimed to determine the efficiency of selected hospitals of Urmia University of Medical Sciences. This was a descriptive-analytic [cross-sectional and retrospective] study conducted in 2009. Input variables included the number of active beds, doctors and other personnel and output variables encompassed outpatients' admission and occupied day-bed. The data were analyzed through DEA method and Deap [2.1] software with variable return to scale assumption. Slack and radial movements, the efficiency of the hospitals and the excessive use of inputs were determined. The mean scores of technical, managerial and scale efficiency of the hospitals were 0.584, 0.782 and 0.771, respectively. Four hospitals enjoyed the maximum technical efficiency [1]. The capacity of efficiency enhancement was about 41.5% without any increase in costs, applying the same amount of inputs. A decrease of surplus production factor based on the results of DEA can lead to a reduction in expenditures. In hospitals with technical efficiency of less than one, the original and projected values of inputs were different and had a surplus. It is suggested that hospitals decrease their surplus from original values to achieve the expected optimal performance. The results could be applied in hospitals as a benchmark for decision making about resource allocation, controlling and improving hospital performance