ABSTRACT
Background: Migration of physicians from less developed countries to affluent ones has become as one of the major concerns of human resource policy-makers. This leads to problems such as inequity in the distribution of physicians, lack of physicians in less developed areas, as well as an excess of the health workforce in developed environs. Thus, policy-makers aim to increase retention of physicians in their places of origin.
Aims: This study aimed to find those effective factors for the retention of physicians in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Methods: 30 569 records of public sector physicians in 2016 were gathered from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education database, and the retention rate of each province was calculated. Geographic information system [GIS] was used to show retention in each province, and linear and logistic regression analysis were used to determine the effective factors for physicians' retention in the country.
Results: There was a significant relationship between per capita gross domestic product of each province and its retention rate of physicians [OR = 1.56], retention rate of family physicians [OR = 7.38], and retention rate of specialists [OR = 1.59]. In addition, relationships were significant for the human development index [all physicians [OR = 1.22], family physicians [OR = 2.36], and specialists [OR = 1.23]]. Married physicians, higher paid physicians, and those who worked in headquarters and clinics showed greater willingness to stay in their area of origin.
Conclusions: Physicians' retention rate is dependent on both macro and microlevel factors.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Public Sector , Specialization , Physicians, FamilyABSTRACT
Introduction: Soil has an important role in nutrient cycle and an important function in storage, refinement, and movement of nutrients for the living and non-living parts. Soil pollution of heavy metals and elements is one of the common pollution impacts of human activities, especially industry. Realization of distribution pattern of these elements and their anthropogenic sources is a major part of environmental protection plans. In the present study, concentration of two major heavy metals were investigated and mapped using geostatistical methods throughout western part of Karoon river in Ahwaz city. Four land areas including urban areas, agricultural, industrial, and bare soils were applied
Materials and Methods: In this research, at first, 40 sample plots were determined randomly from the study area and soil samples were taken from surface layer with the depth of 20 centimeters. Afterwards, the data were entered into SAS 9.3 and Arc GIS 10.2 applications for data analysis and mapping
Results: Results showed that Pb and Cd concentrations had the lowest standard rate in western parts of city while their highest rate was in river shores, south-west, and northern parts. Hence, the soil is over polluted in these areas comparing to WHO standards
Conclusion: A significant correlation was observed between Pb and Cd elements. Regarding results achieved by the semi-variance model, it is concluded that pollutions have anthropogenic sources in this area. According to the results, most important factors of pollution in this area were smelting and steel factories as well as agricultural pesticides