Assessing hospital performance by the pabon lasso model

The Pabon Lasso model was applied to assess the performance of six State-run hospitals in the province of Kohgilooyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, to produce information that used by policy makers in their attempt to make the health care system more productive. This cross-sectional study involved all the six public hospitals in the province, with 607 registered beds. Data collection accomplished by the use of two ad hoc questionnaires that dealt with both general information and admission data from various hospital wards. The statistical software SPSS-13 used to derive three basic performance indicators, namely average length of stay, bed occupancy rate and bed turnover, which analyzed in Pabon Lasso model. The overall average length of stay, bed occupancy and bed turnover rates were 2.99 days, 62.78% and 76.73 respectively. Two hospitals were in Zone III of the model, indicating a satisfactory level of efficiency. Three hospitals demonstrated inefficiency and underutilization of resources by falling into Zone I. one hospital placed in Zone IV. The best approach to address the existing inefficiencies would lie in stopping the expansion of the current facilities [e.g. not adding any more beds]. As any further expansion will only serve to make hospitals more inefficient. Future research should focus on why the performance is not at a desirable level and how the situation can be improved

World AIDS day campaign in Iran: a population-based study

This was a population-based study to examine whether the campaign for World AIDS Day 2005 in Iran was successful. A random sample of the general population was asked whether they had seen the campaign and knew the message. They were also asked whether it was attractive; there was anything offensive, whether the campaign could raise awareness, and how they rated the campaign. In all 1215 individuals were approached and 1014 agreed to take part in the study. Only 43% [n= 435] said that they had seen the campaign. Of those who had seen the campaign 79% knew the subject and 24% acknowledged the main message correctly. Only 27% said it was very attention getting or eye-catching, 64% said the campaign could raise awareness but 75% said the message was unclear, and confusing. A few respondents [23%] rated that the campaign overall looked good or very good. The findings suggest that if the World AIDS Day is an opportunity to give visibility to the problem, then there is an urgent need to think seriously to choose other approaches for raising global awareness on the state of the epidemic in Iran and elsewhere

Intercessory prayer and ferritin and hemoglobin in major thalassemia: a pilot study

Intercessory prayer [IP] is one of the newly recognized holistic treatment methols and its effectiveness has been documented on the mangement of difterent diseases such as coronary heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and infertility. This study aims to d etemine its effectiveness on ferritin and blood indices of major thalassemic patients. This was an interventionaI study assessing seven patients attending an outpatient clinic receing IP in addition to their routine treatment. In all IP was performed 5.56 times for each patient as close-Iaying of hands and 6 times as remote IP. Before the study, the mean hemoglobin was 9.7 mg/dI, which increased to 10.8 afterwards [P = 0.028]. Mean serum ferritin was 2246.8 before the intervention which decreased to 1680.8 afterwards. Blood transfusion interval doubled in four patients. Dizziness and fatigue, which were reported by two patients before intervention, disappeared afterwards. Three patienis reporled an improvement in their school penfllrmance after the study. This pilot study showed that intercessory prayer was effectlve in increasing hemoglobin and transfusion interval, decreasing ferritin and improving school performance in patients with major thalassemia. A larger randomized trlal is suggested corfirm the results

Herbal medicine: Knowledge, attitude and practice in Tehran

Herbal medicine is one of complementary medicine [CAM] approaches that refer to a group of therapeutic and diagnostic disciplines that exists largely outside the institutions where conventional health care is taught and provided for treating patients. Herbal medicine is discipline based on systems practiced thousands of years ago. World health organization reported that more than 60% of world's population are using herbal components for their treatments. Herbal medicine is an increasing feature of healthcare practice, but considerable confusion remains what exactly it is and position the disciplines included under this term should hold in relation to conventional medicine. To study the Knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary medicine [KAP Study]. Design of this study was cross-sectional. Setting was Tehran city and study conducted on Oct 2003 - Oct 2004. Studied samples were 4123 subjects [more than 15 years old age] who were selected with cluster sampling. Data gathered with questionnaire. This survey showed that 75/6% of the studied population knew herbal therapy and 38.4% of total population and 50.8% of population who knew about herbal therapy, had used it once at least. More than 60% of population of different areas of Tehran city knew this therapy and 19-70% of this population had been used it. Most subjects have heard about this type of therapy from others. Most of subjects who used herbal therapy expressed that it was very effective. Most of them referred to non-physicians and most of their diseases were gastro-intestinal, respiratory and nervous system diseases. Female, married subjects and elderly were the most users of herbal therapy. Public knowledge and demand for herbal medicine is considerable. Demand for herbal medicine had growth therefore we need more attention in planning for treatments and academic approach to herbal medicine. Health system provision might go some way to ensure certain minimum standards such as proper regulation, standardized note keeping, effective channels of communication [patients also want to be protected from unqualified practitioners and inappropriate treatments] and participation in research