Hospital information system utilization in Iran: a qualitative study.

Hospital information system (HIS) should ideally allow different forms of data to be stored and used for decision making by clinicians and managers alike. This system has been developed since the early 1980's, and many hospitals gradually converted from an unrelated system into an integrated one. In successful implementation of HIS plans, the role of human factors, either individually or as a group, is expected to be very important and decisive. In this phenomenological qualitative research, in-depth personal interviews were conducted with the hospital's senior managers, and discussions were conducted in six to eight member focus groups. To include participants for interviews, purposive sampling was used in an Iranian hospital among doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers who had experience in using HIS. Data collection continued until saturation stage. The meetings took about 90 to 120 minutes, in which the participants were asked about discovering needs as well as facilitating and inhibiting factors regarding HIS application. Two members of the research team independently analyzed the interview transcripts.  As a result, problems in HIS isolation were reported to be related to the following: software, hardware, manpower, management and training. About the last point, it was stated that adequate continuing professional development programs did not exist for proper use of computers in the hospital. To achieve the ultimate goal of HISs (e.g. increasing patient satisfaction and decreasing hospital costs), it is necessary to create basic changes in the training system, and to get feedback from hospital personnel. Other steps include addressing software and hardware shortcomings as well as moving towards reinforcing the facilitating factors and refraining from inhibiting ones discovered in this study.

Organizational entrepreneurship and administrators of hospitals: case study of Iran.

Due to rapid changes of technology and scientific advances in health systems and need for fast planning in health care, entrepreneurial spirit among employers and employees is a crucial element. According to the field of entrepreneurship research has not been solved and where learning and innovation for healthcare organizations due to the nature of the work required. This study aims to examine the entrepreneurial activities within the hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. To achieve the aim of the study, a questionnaire containing 29 items regarding the areas of innovation, creative behavior, flexibility, empowerment, rewarding systems and the management support was distributed among the hospitals' managers. Establishment of a culture of entrepreneurship in healthcare organizations led to the development unit controlled, changing the culture of the hospital. The analysis of the data showed that the majority of the managers agreed with all five areas of entrepreneurship namely the existence of innovation and innovative behavior, flexibility, decision making, rewarding and encouraging system, as well as management supportive system of personnel's new ideas. In fact, the managers generally had positive attitude towards entrepreneurship in their organizations The Pearson correlation test also showed that there is a significant relationship between the areas of entrepreneurship and the managers' age as well as their working experience (P<0.05). Entrepreneurial activities in healthcare can be improved through providing a suitable environment, adjusting reward and encouragement systems, giving more authority to subordinates, promoting awareness and education, and mobilizing managers to attract appropriate opportunities for organization. Further active involvement of employees, more stable in front of changes and increased ability managers to capture opportunities in domestic and foreign situation.

Telemedicine and its potential impacts on reducing inequalities in access to health manpower.

Human resources for health have many diverse aspects that sometimes bring about conflicts in the healthcare market. In recent decades issues such as attrition, migration, and different types of imbalances in health workers were not only considered as international problems, but also took on new particular dimensions and complications. Rapid growth in establishing infrastructure of communications and many diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS and malaria, as well as shortages in skilled healthcare providers in developing countries, interested many health economists and health professionals to consider telemedicine as an approach to deliver some healthcare and to pursue its effects on human resources management in healthcare. The objective of this communication is to offer a better understanding of the value of telemedicine in human resources management in healthcare. This article briefly reviews related literature on potential contributions of telemedicine in mitigating four different types of imbalances in health workers and points out some of its capabilities. Although there is a great need for systematic, scientific, and analytical studies in effects of telemedicine on health workers, expansion of communication infrastructure throughout and especially in remote areas, political commitment, and provision of useful information and education to reduce problems of human resources for health are beneficial.