17 research outputs found
Relationship Between the Leadership Styles of Nursing Managers and Teamwork of Nurses in University Hospitals of Mashhad and Zahedan, Iran
No full textIntroduction and purpose: Policymakers can enhance personnel performance and consequently, improve the quality of healthcare by evaluation of suitable leadership styles for health organizations and establishment of effective team groups. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the leadership styles of nursing managers and the teamwork of nurses.
Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was conducted among 500 nurses working in eight selected university hospitals in Mashhad and Zahedan, Iran (2022). Data were collected using two standard questionnaires on leadership styles and teamwork through interviews. Descriptive statistical methods, such as the mean and standard deviation, were employed to determine leadership style and teamwork scores. Additionally, Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to investigate the relationship between these two variables.
Results: The dominant leadership style among the participants was transformational leadership (37.6%). The overall mean teamwork score was 3.66±0.48, with 91.8% of nurses scoring teamwork 3 or higher. Transformational and passive leadership styles exhibited the highest and lowest relationships with teamwork, respectively (P<0.05). Additionally, the mean teamwork score among nurses with managers exhibiting a transformational leadership style was higher, compared to other styles (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Managers and executive supervisors can positively impact teamwork and consequently, the performance indicators of their unit by adopting a transformational leadership style and enhancing their leadership knowledge. To achieve this goal, it is suggested to conduct in-service training courses. Additionally, selecting supervisors of centers who promote teamwork and designing a mechanism to collect feedback from hospital personnel regarding the leadership style of their direct managers are recommended
Estimating the Cost of Prevention and Control of Rabies: A Case Study in the Northwest of Iran
No full textBackground: The significance of rabies is due to high mortality rate, economic damage caused by livestock loss, and high costs of treatment. Considering the economic problems in developing countries as well as the lack of resources and facilities, economic assessments will be very useful in obtaining the necessary financial information. Therefore, the present study aims to estimate the cost of prevention and control of rabies in Ahar, East Azarbaijan, during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in Ahar, East Azarbaijan. This study was carried out using available documents (Vaccine registries, Human Resources Department records, Staff daily wages) and data collection (Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Taxi Administration, Municipality Office and the Veterinary Network) to estimate the cost of prevention and control of rabies during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. The societal perspective was taken into account to estimate costs. Data was entered into SPSS version 20 and the total cost was calculated. Also, the Mann-Whitney U test was used for data analysis.
Results: The total financial burden of preventing and controlling rabies in Ahar during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 was about 803 and 850 million rials respectively. The loss of the patient's income (240 and 260 million rials during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012), cost of rabies vaccine (approximately 231 and 237 million rials during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012), and staff costs (approximately 118 and 247 million rials during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012) had the largest share of the cost, while cost of tetanus vaccine (1.3 and 1.2 million rials during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012) had the smallest share.
Conclusion: The present study showed that the prevention and control of rabies put a significant financial burden on the government through direct medical expenses, rabies control program for dogs, and care of the disease. It put a burden on the people, as well, through the loss of productivity and income, and transportation costs
Relationship Between Knowledge Management and Quality of Working Life in Nursing Staff of Zahedan Teaching Hospitals, 2014
No full textCost-effectiveness of Anemia Screening in Vulnerable Groups: A Systematic Review
No full textBackground: Anemia is the most common blood disorder observed in vulnerable groups and affects their efficiency in their everyday activities. Possible complications of the disease may be reduced or prevented by screening of patients. Screening programs impose certain costs upon the health system, which may offset their positive effects. Whether the positive impacts of screening outweigh its costs is a subject of debate among policy-makers. In this research, we have conducted a systematic review of the cost-effectiveness of anemia screening.
Methods: The Pubmed, Science Direct, SCOPUS, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases were searched for relevant results dating between 1962-2010 using key words. The references of the related articles were gone over manually. In the end, Persian databases were also examined for results.
Results: Using data from the four mentioned databases, a total of 722 articles were elected, which, after evaluation, were narrowed down to 4. Of these, 3 focused on newborns and infants. Disparity existed among obtained results, such that no two articles were similar, and this made making comparisons between them cumbersome and sometimes even impossible. Only one study evaluated cost-effectiveness of anemia screening in vulnerable target groups.
Conclusions: Research findings show that there is not enough evidence of cost-effectiveness of screening for decision-making. Bearing in mind the importance of the matter to health policy-makers, due to high prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia in low- and middle-income countries, conduction of research in this field seems necessary
Rational Prescription of Drug in Iran: Statistics and Trends for Policymakers
No full textBackground: Medicine is considered as strategic goods worldwide and, therefore, a huge amount of health care budget is spent on it. To prepare universal access to appropriate health services and achieve the health-related millennium development goals, rational use of drugs is an essential goal in the health system. This study aimed to investigate the proportion of drug prescription in three categories of injections, antibacterials agents and corticosteroids in a 10 year period.
Methods: This is a descriptive study using data from an Iranian national insurance organization and National Center of Drug Use. The data about prescribed drugs during 2003 to 2013 were collected and analyzed by Excel Microsoft software, version 2010.
Result: Results indicated that injections were decreased from 49.25% in 2003 to 46% in 2013;
also, antimicrobials had a decrease from 64.25% in 2003 to 42.2% in 2013. Totally, it was
reduced about 16% in the period of 10 years. Corticosteroids increased 10 % from 13% to
23% in 2013.
Conclusion: According the present findings that indicate irrational and increasing use of
corticosteroids and antimicrobials, it seems necessary for Iranian policy makers to pay specific
attention to customizing clinical and pharmaceutical guidelines along with improvement
of medical education system and rational prescription, holding scientific committees of
prescription supervision, arranging continuous and effective education of health personnel,
and improving public culture and community education
comparative study of Saadi's Gulistan and Yoshida's Essays in Idleness
Get PDFIntroduction
Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness) is a Japanese didactic book written in the 14th century, 80 years, after appearance of Gulistan, (Rose Garden), the masterpiece of Iranian poet and writer, Muslihaldin Sa’adi Shirazi, and has a strong resemblance both in content and structure with Gulistan. Kenko Yoshida , the author of Essays in Idleness, was a poet and writer who unlike Sa’adi, had the life of a recluse, and retired himself as a Buddhist monk, from the public life. Although Sa’adi was a writer and poet who had trained in the School of Quran and Islamic wisdom and Yoshida was a believer of Buddhist mysticism, their attitude toward the world was quite similar. Even so, Sa’adi’ s work, is far superior to Yoshida’s, from an aesthetic and rhetorical point of view. Warning about the instability of the world, the preciousness of contentment and importance of dignity in the old age are the common themes of two books. From a structural point of view, they are also similar; for example, both have used poems within prose as a structural feature and both consist of narrative pieces.
2.Methodology
This paper is based on the comparative study method in order to evaluate the content and aesthetic features of the two mentioned books and to determine the similarities and differences between elements within them. for this purpose, the researchers have tried, at first, to find elements within the two books that have some type of similarity, such as common themes. Then, the researchers have attempted to answer the following questions:
1) Had Yoshida been familiar with Sa’adi ‘s book and inspired by it?
2) Are the similarities between the two books made completely by coincidence?
Discussion
Gulistan (Rose Garden) is widely regarded as a landmark of Persian literature and one of its most influential prose works. Written in 1258, it is one of the two of Saadi’s major works, which has been proved deeply influential in both the West and the East. Structured as a collection of poems and stories (metaphorically as different types of roses), the text features minimalist plots, expressed with precise language and psychological insight. It explores the many issues and tribulations faced by humankind, employing both an optimistic and a subtly satirical tone. The book is divided into an introduction and eight chapters, each dealing with a specific subject: chapter 1: Of the Customs of Kings chapter 2: Of the Morals of Dervishes chapter3: On the Preciousness of Contentment chapter 4: On the Benefit of Being Silent chapter5 : On Love and Youth chapter 6: Of Imbecility and Old Age chapter 7: Of the Impressions of Education chapter 8: Of the Duties of Society
These chapters are composed of disjointed paragraphs, generally beginning with an aphorism or an anecdote and closing with an original poem of a few lines. Sometimes, these paragraphs are altogether lyrical. We are struck, first of all, by the personal characteristics of these paragraphs; many of them relate to the experience of the poet in some part of his travels, expressing his comment upon what he had seen and heard. His comments generally take the form of practical wisdom, or religious suggestion. He gives us the impression that he knows life and the human heart thoroughly.
On the other hand, Essays in Idleness is one of the classics in Japanese Literature, and is much read as a text book in Japanese schools. The original title of the book is derived from the opening word of the text ,Tsurezure (leisure) and Gusa, a compound variant of kusa, which means “grass”, a word sometimes used to designate anything not quite finished up, raw and rough as it were.
Contrary to Sa’adi’s Gulistan, Tsurezuregusa does not have a precise order, although Yoshida had tried to separate the subjects of his book into sections, the book is, in fact, a collection of treatises on miscellaneous subjects written by a fourteenth century priest. these subjects are, of course, very similar to Sa’adi’s Gulistan; for example, in section 18 of the book, Yoshida notes:
“It is best for a man to be thrifty, to shrink from luxuries, not to accumulate great wealth, and not to covet the whole world. The great men of ancient times were seldom rich” (Yoshida, 1914, pp. 20-21). “In China once there was a man named Xu You, who owned nothing and even drank directly from his cupped hands. Seeing this, someone gave him a ‘singing gourd’ to use as a cup; he hung it in a tree, but when he heard it singing in the wind one day he threw it away, annoyed by the noise it made, and went back to drinking his water from his hands. What a free, pure spirit!” (Yoshida, 2001). Sa’adi in chapter 3 of Gulistan (On the Preciousness of Contentment) narrates a story with a similar theme as below:
“A mendicant from the west of Africa had taken his station amidst a group of shopkeepers at Aleppo, and was saying: “O lords of plenty! had ye a just sense of equity, and we of contentment, all manner of importunity would cease in this world!” O contentment! do thou make me rich, for without thee there is no wealth. The treasure of patience was the choice of Lucman. Whoever has no patience has no wisdom ” (Sa’adi, 2019).
On the Morals of Dervishes, Yoshida says:
“Commendable is the man who, overwhelmed by calamity and sorrow, shaves his head but not because of some silly whim of his own. shuts his door so that none may know whether he is within or not, and lives from break of day to set of sun without any human desires ” ( Yoshida, 1914, p. 12).
Similar to this, is the following story in Gulistan: “They tell a story of an abid, who in the course of a night would eat ten mans, or pounds, of food, and in his devotions repeat the whole Koran before morning. A good and holy man heard this, and said, “Had he eaten half a loaf of bread, and gone to sleep, he would have done a more meritorious act.” Keep thy inside unencumbered with victuals, that the light of good works may shine within thee; but thou art void of wisdom and knowledge, because thou art filled up to the nose with food” (Sa’adi, 2019).
In section 51, Yoshida emphasizes the importance of hiring skilled persons for momentous jobs “A farmer of Oi was order to arrange a water – supply from the Oi River for the pond of the Kameyama Palace; so he constructed a water-wheel. He spend much money and worked hard for several at it, but there was something wrong with it and it would not go round. He tried all sorts of alterations, but as it still would not revolve he had at last to give it up. Thereupon a villager from Uji was sent for, who easily fastened it and put it right, so that it revolved as it should have done and delivered the water satisfactorily. It is best in every case to employ those who are proficient at the business” (Yoshida, 1914, pp. 44-45).
There is a similar story in Gulistan: “A fellow had a complaint in his eyes, and went to a horse-doctor, saying: “Prescribe something for me.” The doctor of horses applied to his eyes what he was in the habit of applying to the eyes of quadrupeds, and the man got blind. They carried their complaint before the hakim, or judge. He decreed: “This man has no redress, for had he not been an ass he would not have applied to a horse or ass doctor!” The moral of this apologue is, that whoever doth employ an inexperienced person on an affair of importance, besides being brought to shame, he will incur from the wise the imputation of a weak mind. A prudent man, with an enlightened understanding, entrusts not affairs of consequence to one of mean capacity. The plaiter of mats, notwithstanding he be a weaver, they would not employ in a silk manufactory” (Sa’adi).
Regardless of the thematic similarities, Sa’adi has used a better artistic form for his stories. The plots of his stories are subtly and skillfully and fascinate the readers completely.in contrast, most of Yoshida’s stories, have poor plots.
Employing an optimistic and a subtly satirical tone are the other valuable features of Sa’adi’s stories.
Conclusion
Gulistan (Rose Garden), the masterpiece of the great Iranian poet and writer , Saadi Shirazi, has an astonishing resemblance to Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness). In our view, Yoshida, as a reclusive Buddhist monk, had not been familiar with Gulistan, and so the issue of plagiarism or adaptation is completely ruled out. Then, why these two books are so similar? And because of this amazing similarity, it called “Japanese Gulistan”. This study denotes that this similarity is based on three factors: 1) Sa’adi and Yoshida, lived nearly in the same era; 2) Both were the wise men and Sufis of their time; with the difference that Yoshida was a recluse monk and Sa’adi, as a wayfarer , had roamed the world far and wide; 3) The resemblance between the two books is completely by coincidence.
As we mentioned in this essay ,the similarities between the two books, are not only in content, but both in content and structure; Tsurezuregusa , like Gulistan, Structured as a collection of poems and stories. But his stories are not as beautiful as Sa’adi’s. Sa’adi has used a better artistic form for his stories and the plot of his stories are subtly and skillfully. The poems of Gulistan are original and Sa’adi, as a poet, has composed all of them. Yoshida was also a poet, but in his book, he has handpicked the poems of the other poets. Employing an optimistic and a subtly satirical tone are the other valuable features of Sa’adi’s stories, that distinguish Gulistan from the book of Yoshida. as a result ,Gulistan is structured in more artistic style and this is the reason of classifying it as a internationally well-known literary book
Catastrophic Health Expenditure in Households with Severe Mental Disorders Patients: Evidence After Iran's Health Transformation Plan
No full textSex and age Differences in Hospitalization and Mortality Rates Due to COVID-19 from 20 March 2020 until 20 March 2022 in Iran: A Population-based Study
Get PDFIntroduction: This study aimed to identify the effect of differences in age-sex structure in COVID-19 hospitalizations and death rates among men and women in Iran. Accordingly, we calculated the SARS-CoV-2 hospitalized patients and mortality rates, stratified by sex, age, and demographic distribution.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, where the target population was the total population from 20 March 2020 until 20 March 2022 in Iran, over the two-time periods, 20 March 2020 until 20 March 2021 [first year], and 20 March 2021 until 20 March 2022 [second year]. The chi-squared test was used for analysis.
Results: During the first year, 493220 cases were hospitalized with 258209 (52%) men, in addition 61,586 deaths occurred, where 34,849 [57%] were men. The overall hospitalization rate per 100,000 population in men and women was 607.77 and 565.57, respectively, and the mortality rate per 100,000 population in men and women was 82.03 and 64.34, respectively. During the second year, 652893 cases were hospitalized, where 340344 (52%) were women. The overall hospitalization rate per 100,000 population in men and women was 727.98 and 809.67, respectively, in addition to 54,740 deaths, where 29,172 [53%] were men. The overall mortality rate per 100,000 population in men and women was 67.95 and 60.83, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings showed a higher hospitalization in the first year in men, whilst the opposite was evident in the second year. The mortality rate increased with age and was most predominant in men, 50 years of age or older. Therefore, there is a need for policy makers to be acutely aware of the discrepancies in mortality according to age and sex groups, and have different, and complementary, strategies for controlling the pandemic by age and sex groups
Household financial burden associated with out-of-pocket payments for healthcare in Iran: insights from a cross-sectional survey
No full textAbstract Background One of the key functions and ultimate goals of health systems is to provide financial protection for individuals when using health services. This study sought to evaluate the level of financial protection and its inequality among individuals covered by the Social Security Organization (SSO) health insurance between September and December 2023 in Iran. Methods We collected data on 1691 households in five provinces using multistage sampling to examine the prevalence of catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) at four different thresholds (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) of the household’s capacity to pay (CTP). Additionally, we explored the prevalence of impoverishment due to health costs and assessed socioeconomic-related inequality in OOP payments for healthcare using the concentration index and concentration curve. To measure equity in out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for healthcare, we utilized the Kakwani progressivity index (KPI). Furthermore, we employed multiple logistic regression to identify the main factors contributing to households experiencing CHE. Findings : The study revealed that households in our sample allocated approximately 11% of their budgets to healthcare services. The prevalence of CHE at the thresholds of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% was found to be 47.1%, 30.1%, 20.1%, and 15.7%, respectively. Additionally, we observed that about 7.9% of the households experienced impoverishment due to health costs. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that the age of the head of the household, place of residence, socioeconomic status, utilization of dental services, utilization of medicine, and province of residence were the main factors influencing CHE. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that while wealthy households spend more money on healthcare, poorer households spend a larger proportion of their total income to healthcare costs. The KPI showed that households with lower total expenditures had higher OOP payments relative to their CTP. Conclusion The study findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to improve financial protection in healthcare and mitigate inequalities among individuals covered by SSO. It is recommended that these interventions prioritize the expansion of coverage for dental services and medication expenses, particularly for lower socioeconomic status household
