Telemedicine technologies and applications in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Telemedicine services saw substantial surges in their use during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the lockdowns and characteristics of the pandemic. Therefore, the authors aimed to systematically review the telemedicine services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic and their potential applications. METHODS: The authors searched PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases on September 14, 2021. Then, the retrieved records underwent two-step title/abstract and full-text screening processes, and the eligible articles were included for qualitative synthesis. RESULTS: The review of studies demonstrated that the telephone is listed 38 times, making it the most common technology used in telemedicine. Video conferencing is also mentioned in 29 articles, as well as other technologies: Mobile-health (n = 15), Virtual reality (n = 7). According to the findings of the present study, Tele-follow-up (n = 24), Tele-consulting (n = 20), Virtual visits (20), and Tele-monitoring (n = 18) were the most widely used telemedicine applications. CONCLUSION: Telemedicine has been an effective approach to COVID-19 management. Telemedicine technology is going to play a key role in the future of health medicine, patient consultation, and many other extended applications of health care in remote rural locations.

Seroprevalence of Human Toxocariasis in Children (5-15-Year-Old) Using ELISA Method in Ardabil District, North-West of Iran.

Background: Toxocariasis is a worldwide-distributed helminth parasitic infection. This study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of human toxocariasis in children living in Ardabil Province, North-West of Iran. Methods: A seroepidemiological study to evaluate human toxocariasis among urban and rural populations of Ardabil County, North-West of Iran using ELISA test was carried out from 2019 to 2020. The study population was 472 children (185 females and 287 males) aged between 5 and 15 yr old. Immunoglobulin G antibodies against Toxocara spp. were analyzed by ELISA test. Results: Of the 472 collected serum samples, 66 (14.0%) were positive for antibodies against human toxocariasis. The highest prevalence of infection was observed in children with age groups of 5-6 years. Data demonstrate higher seroprevalence among males (15.3%) than females (11.8%). Rural areas prevalence was significantly higher (24.4%) than the urban area (8.65%). The rate of the diseases was 22.8% in children having history of contact with dog. Conclusion: Toxocariasis is prevalent in the children of Ardabil region. The present study can increase the awareness of the population about the risk of zoonotic diseases as well as the anthelmintic treatment of dogs by veterinarians and, more importantly, the control of stray dogs.

Explaining the role of organizational culture on succession-planning at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Developing and guiding new knowledge are futile unless the organizational culture can also be transformed. Future leaders cannot emerge out of an organizational environment that is not conducive to the accumulation of experiences. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the role of organizational culture in creating a succession-planning system at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in 2014. METHODS: The present qualitative framework analysis held interviews with 23 director generals, administrative directors and deputies from the headquarters of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education in 2014 who were selected through snowball sampling. The data obtained were analyzed in MAXQDA-10. Codes were extracted using inductive techniques. RESULTS: The cultural factors affecting succession-planning at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education were identified and classified under three main areas, including the cultural factors related to the directors with four themes (Directors' job security, Constructive competition, Transparency and trust development, Creating opportunities), to the personnel with four themes (Organizational identity and loyalty, Trust in the organization, Talent and merit, Peer envy) and to the system with two themes (Values and beliefs, Politicization). CONCLUSION: Findings of the study show that establishment and institutionalization of the succession planning to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education is deeply affected by the components of organizational culture. Accordingly, unprofessional organization culture can deprive the organization of numerous advantages in multiple-succession planning.

Assessing the Awareness of Agents Involved in Issuance of Death Certificates About Death Registration Rules in Iran.

INTRODUCTION: In the death registration system, issuance of death certificate, as a binding rule, is considered among the major necessities of preparation of death statistics. In order to prepare death statistics that are adequately valid for subsequent applications, it is necessary to properly encode death certificates and fully follow rules on causes underlying death. This study aimed to assess the awareness and performance of agents involved in issuance of death certificate in the national death records system. METHODS: It was a descriptive cross-sectional research, which was performed from September 2013 to March 2014 on 96 agents involved in issuance of death certificate Imam Khomeini, Alavi, Fatemi and BuAli education and treatment centers of Ardebil University of Medical Sciences. The population included faculty staff physicians, residents and health information management staffs. The research scale was also a researcher-made questionnaire that questioned the demographic information as well as awareness and performance of participants regarding death certificate coding rules. Research data was analyzed based on descriptive statistics and the chi-square test method in the SPSS software at a confidence level of 95%. FINDINGS: A total of 34.42% of participants were aware of the general rules on issuance of death certificates while faculty staff higher specialists (41.67%) and clinical coders (38.34%) with five years of experience demonstrated the highest awareness levels. Only 23 participants (24.6%) were trained to issue death certificates. A total of 76 participants (79.3%) announced their need for learning how to complete death certificate forms on a constant basis. The awareness of participants about the general principle was assessed to be low (30.25%). Moreover, their awareness of selection rules and modification rules was low (27.75%) and moderate (45.25%), respectively. The chi-square test revealed a significant relationship between work experience and awareness of participants about coding rules (P=0.001), but no significant relationship was observed between education and awareness of coding rules (P=0.497). CONCLUSION: The awareness of participants about rules on coding death causes and their performance in this field was so satisfactory. That is to say, the awareness of faculty staff and health information management staffs was unexpectedly low. Seemingly, lack of adequate training is an international issue that causes mistakes in the recording of information on mortality. Hence, a short-term solution is to train faculty staff and residents and also revise the training provided to health information management staffs. As a long-term solution it is possible to provide related courses to general practitioner students.