[Function and effectiveness of work teams in vice- chancellery for health in medical universities in Iran: from managers and experts' perspectives]

Introduction: Work teams provide good platforms for optimal use of organizational capacities and have always been considered as one of the important factors in promoting productivity and increasing satisfaction among employees. This study aimed at understanding the function and effectiveness of work teams in medical universities in Iran

Methods: In this descriptive- analytic study, conducted in 2012-2013, 13 vice-Chancellery for Health in Medical Universities were randomly selected. This survey was conducted on managers and experts. Data collection was done using a researcher made questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which was confirmed. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0 through related statistical tests at a significant level of ? <0.05

Results: The average membership of managers and experts in internal, academic, provincial and ministerial teams was 1.2 +/- 0.9, 1.2 +/- 0.8, 1.0 +/- 0.5 and 0.2 +/- 0.04, respectively.78.4% of the membership was with official notification, and 76.2% with invitation to the meeting. 76.2% of working team members stated that the present work teams enjoy organized approaches. Deployment level, assessment, renovation and effectiveness of work teams, from managers and experts' perspectives, was 0.9 +/- 3.4, 0.8 +/- 3.2, 0.9 +/- 3.4, respectively. There was a significant difference [p=0.0140], [p=0.032] among deployment level, membership frequency of managers and experts in different work teams and types of medical universities

Conclusion: The Performance and effectiveness of team works was at average level; therefore, it is recommended to design and implement intervention programs leading to improved performance

Life expectancy at birth in rural areas based on corrected data of the Iranian vital horoscope

Life expectancy at birth as an alternative summary measure of mortality represents number of years which a newborn will be alive based on the current age specific death rates. As it summarizes death rates across all age range in a given population is the most common summary measure of mortality. The aim of this study was to correct death rates for underreport and estimate life expectancy at birth in rural population of Iran in 2008. In addition, this study aimed to assess the Vital Horoscope system's data quality. Data were obtained from all Health Houses in Iranian villages in 2008. In order to adjust over 5 years old death rates for underreport, we used Brass Growth Balance method. Since this method is not applicable to under 5 years old, we used child mortality rates projected based on the Iranian Demographic and Health survey 2000 to correct death rates. Adjusted life expectancy at birth for males was 71.5 year and for females was 74.4 year. Completeness of the death data was 88% for males and 79% for females. Adjusted child [under 5] mortality rate by sex in males and females was 25.9 and 23.8 per 1000 live births respectively. Adult mortality for males was 167.2 and 98.3 for females per 1000. Data based on Vital Horoscope system are a suitable source to estimate life expectancy and other mortality statistics. Also has an acceptable completeness on death registration. Further studies to investigate accuracy of data from the Vital Horoscope system are suggested

[Benchmarking records of administrators and officers at health deputy headquarters of Iranian universities of medical sciences: 2008 - 2010]

Benchmarking is used to identify the successful experiences and achievements of a business to develop and improve organizational performance. This study aimed to determine, firstly, the frequency of benchmarking made by administrators and officers at Health Deputy headquarters of Iranian universities of medical sciences and, secondly, the relationship of this frequency to individual and organizational factors. This cross-sectional study was conducted in spring 2010. The research population constituted administrators and officers at Health Deputy Headquarters of Iranian universities of medical sciences from which thirteen universities were randomized and stratified. All available administrators and officers in the selected universities were interviewed and, then, were asked to complete a reliable and valid questionnaire consisting of individual and organizational variables. From the 293 administrators and officers under study, 75 [26.5%] could exploit 167 cases of successful experiences and achievements of other organizations to improve and develop their organizational performance. While 46.7% of benchmarking was conducted through site visits, 86.2 % of all the process was performed by the health sector, and 91% of the activity was done within the country. Among individual and organizational factors, only the educational degrees of the participants showed a significant relationship with benchmarking rates [p=0.045]. To promote the low amount of benchmarking capita among the administrators and officers, it seems necessary to design and implement intervention programs

[Satisfaction of family physicians [FPs] about effective factors on activation of FP program in medical universities]

Family Physicians [FPs] played a responsible role as the manager of health team for using of potentials promotion and conserve the health in their protege population. Family physicians Satisfaction can be effect on efficacy, quantity and quality of health services. To evaluate the level Satisfaction of family physicians [FPs] about effective factors on activation of FP program in medical universities in northern provinces of Iran. This cross-sectional descriptive- analytic study was performed on rural regions and towns with population under 20000 persons in the universities of Golestan, Mazandaran, Bobol and Guilan in 2008. At first 20% of health centers which applied family physician program were selected by randomized systematic selection, 160 FPs were interviewed by questionnaire in each center. Data was analyzed by Chi-square, Fishers Exact and Kendalls Test in SPSS. Among 160 FPs, 92 persons [55.4%] were male, 132 persons [79.5%] were married. Mean age of them was 34.5 +/- 4.95 years, mean records of their services was 32 +/- 9.79 months. Mean of their prot‚g‚ population was 4285 +/- 1338.persons. Level of FPs satisfaction was low about the function of district health center, specialists between the second level of referral system and the people with rural assurance,there was a significant difference between the mentioned universities [about these factors]. But the Level of FPs satisfaction was high about the health team. According to the results the managers of district health center must promote the programs and increase the coordination between first and second levels for presentation of health services

[Mapping relative risk of infant mortality in Iranian rural areas in years 2001 and 2006: comparison of maximum likelihood and bayesian methods]

Disease or mortality mapping are statistical methods aimed at providing precise estimates of rates across geographical maps. The aim of this research is to improve the precision of relative risk [RR] estimates of infant mortality [IM] for different rural areas, using empirical and full Bayesian methods. Infant mortality data were extracted from the vital horoscope [Zij-Hayati] for years 2001 and 2006 across rural areas of Iran. Maximum Likelihood, Empirical Bayes with Poisson-Gamma model and full Bayesian models were used. Mont Carlo Markov Chain method was used for latter models. Deviance information criterion [DIC] was computed to check the models fittings. R, WinBUGS and Arc GIS software were employed. Based on the full Bayesian method, the highest RR of infant mortality was 1.73 [95%CI: 1.58-1.88] in year 2001 and 1.62 [95%CI: 1.50-1.75] in 2006 which belonged to Sistan-va-Blouchestan area in comparison to the whole country. In 2001, the rural areas of Birjand [1.45], Kordistan [1.23] and Khorasan [1.21] and in 2006, Birjand [1.42], Zanjan [1.39], Kordistan [1.36], Ardebil [1.32], Zabol [1.28], West Azerbaijan [1.18] and finally Golestan [1.14] had significant RR of IM [all p<0.05]. The lowest RR of infant mortality for year 2001 were belong to rural areas of Tehran University [0.56] and for year 2006 to former Iran University [0.52]. To estimate the mortality map parameters, the full Bayesian method is preferred compared to empirical Bayes and maximum likelihood

Rationale, methods and first results of the Iranian national programme for prevention of chronic diseases from childhood: caspian study

The CASPIAN Study aims to implement a school-based surveillance system for prevention of noncommunicable diseases from childhood in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The baseline survey was conducted from November 2003 to May 2004 in 23 provinces among 21 111 school students aged 6-18 years and their parents. The data collected included: birth weight and current anthropometric measurements; dietary and exercise habits; family history of chronic diseases; and knowledge about prevention. Fasting blood sugar and lipid profile were assessed in a subsample of 4811 students

[Perinatal care regionalization and geographical distribution model in the Islamic Republic of Iran]

During the past decade, neonatal mortality rate in Iran has not decreased satisfactorily. Regionalization of perinatal care services is a potential solution to improve the access of those in need to the best quality care within economic and administrative constraints. This study aims to develop a framework for optimized and efficient distribution of perinatal care services at different levels of care provision. We utilized small area analysis in an iterative process to divide the country into service areas of Perinatal Care Regions [PCRs], to distribute three levels of perinatal services and hospital beds in PCRs, to minimize patients' traveling distances, and to fit the facilities to the needs while incurring minimum changes to the current administrative borders and available infra-structure. We divided the country into 33 PCRs. A total of 1256 level-III [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] beds and 3768 level-II neonatal beds were required in the country and distributed to the districts. One level-Ill district was designated as the center for each PCR. Sixty one districts were identified as level-III and 104 as level-II. Level-I and Ib districts were allocated to the nearest next level districts. Our proposed model decreased the average distance of districts from the center from 125 to 109 km. The average distance and the distance weighted by population of the districts from the PCR center also reduced to 79 and 42 km, respectively. Our model reduced the distance between levels of care provision and balanced the care facilities with population needs at the district level Implementing this model requires resources. It may encounter some resistance in practice. Such resistance should be tackled with setting regulations, monitoring, training, advocacy, and appropriate incentives. A sustainable national regionalization model should be developed centrally, and customized to the specific needs and circumstances of each region