A Survey on the Compatibility of the Hospital Information Systems’ Content with the Guideline of Minimum Data Set

Introduction: In order to the implementation of “SEPAS" which is the development of electronic health Records in Iran, the creation and documentation of the essential data in the HIS seems necessary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate comptability of the hospital information systems (HIS) in Kerman teaching, Private and Social Security hospitals with minimum clinical data set developed by Iran’s Ministry of Health. Method: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The checklist developed by the Ministry of Health was used to evaluate the compliance with minimum data set (MDS) in 5 HISs of 9 teaching, private and social security hospitals. The study was conducted in the second half of 2014 in the City of Kerman, Iran. Results: The results showed that, software No.2 had the highest conformity level (%100) for the “medication and medical consumables data”, and (%97) in “Paraclinical data”, software No.5 had the lowest conformity levels (%79) and (%86) for the two forgoing indexes, respectively. It was also found that none of the HISs contained sub-categories of “diagnosis & death” data set including data on the “morphology of neoplasm” as well as “the place and time of death”. Conclusion: Given the importance of the MDS in integrating the data relating to the patients, implementation of the MDS developed by the Ministry of Health in the HISs is quite substantial by the system’s developers as well as ensuring its registration by the system users in the medical centers

Evaluating factors associated with implementing of evidence-based practice in nursing

Rationale, aims and objectives Evidence-based practice (EBP) has emerged as an innovation for quality improvement in health care. Nurses have important role in implementing EBP but they face many challenges in this context. Evaluation of factors influencing implementation of EBP seems necessary. The aims of this study were to examine nurses’ attitude towards EBP, their self-efficacy and training needs, as well as supporting factors and barriers for implementing EBP. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 182 nurses from four teaching hospitals in Kerman, Iran. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of two main sections; a section to collect socio-demographic information of participants and a section collecting information on five topics (staff’s attitude, self-efficacy skills of EBP, supporting factors, barriers and training needs for implementing EBP). Results The majority (87.4%) of the nurses had not attended any formal training on EBP and 60% of them were not familiar with the concept of EBP. Nurses’ attitude towards EBP was unfavourable (2.57 ± 0.99) and their self-efficacy skills of EBP were poor (2.93 ± 1.06). The most important supporting factor was mentoring by nurses who have adequate EBP experience (3.65 ± 1.17) and the biggest barrier was difficulty judging the quality of research papers and reports (2.46 ± 0.95). There was a moderate demand for training in all areas of EBP (3.62 ± 1.12). Conclusions Nursing care needs to move towards quality improvement using EBP. It is necessary to equip nurses with knowledge and skills required for EBP. Managers should design an appropriate strategic plan by considering supporting factors and barriers for integrating EBP into clinical settin

Evaluation methods used on health information systems (HISs) in Iran and the effects of HISs on Iranian healthcare: a systematic review.

Objectives: The most important goal of a health information system (HIS) is improvement of quality, effectiveness and efficiency of health services. To achieve this goal, health care systems should be evaluated continuously. The aim of this paper was to study the impacts of HISs in Iran and the methods used for their evaluation. Methods: We systematically searched all English and Persian papers evaluating health information systems in Iran that were indexed in SID, Magiran, Iran medex, PubMed and Embase databases until June 2013. A data collection form was designed to extract required data such as types of systems evaluated, evaluation methods and tools. Results: In this study, 53 out of 1103 retrieved articles were selected as relevant and reviewed by the authors. This study indicated that 28 studies used questionnaires to evaluate the system and in 27 studies the study instruments were distributed within a research population. In 26 papers the researchers collected the information by means of interviews, observations, heuristic evaluation and the review of documents and records. The main effects of the evaluated systems in health care settings were improving quality of services, reducing time, increasing accessibility to information, reducing costs and decreasing medical errors. Conclusion: Evaluation of health information systems is central to their development and enhancement, and to understanding their effect on health and health services. Despite numerous evaluation methods available, the reviewed studies used a limited number of methods to evaluate HIS. Additionally, the studies mainly discussed the positive effects of HIS on health care services

Peer Teaching: A New Step to Improve Education, Learning and Student Satisfaction

Background: In peer teaching, students act as both teachers and learners. Peer teaching can be a useful way to learn courses in interdisciplinary fields of study. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the viewpoint of health information technology students about learning through peer teaching. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Undergraduate students in the health information technology department using the peer teaching method participated. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisting of 42 questions assesses students' attitudes toward peer teaching. It consisted of two categories: "learning improvement" and "students' satisfaction with the peer teaching." Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: A total of 52 students participated in the study. Regarding learning improvement, the mean score of development of individual skills, improvement of students' learning, and improvement of peer performance were 3.43 ±1.05, 3.34 ±1.08, and 3.37 ±1.03, respectively. In terms of student satisfaction the mean score of interaction between learner and teacher, knowledge transferred to the student, and the class conditions were 3.52 ±1.10, 3.31 ±1.09, and 3.21 ±1.15, respectively. Students who attended more in peer classes were more satisfied and their learning improved (P0.05). Conclusion: From the students' point of view, peer teaching can improve their learning. Also, the students were satisfied with the training provided by their peers. Peer teaching can be a complement to the teacher-centered method by providing a positive experience. Keywords: Peer Teaching, Peer Learning, Evaluation, Satisfactio

Epidemiological study of colon cancer in educational hospitals of Birjand University of Medical Sciences (2006-2011)

Background and aims: Among all cancers, colon cancer is common and deadly, yet preventable. The estimated worldwide incidence of colon cancer is more than one million new cases per year. This study was done to identify the epidemiological features and risk factors of colon cancer in different regions of Birjand. Methods: This retrospective, descriptive analytical study of patients with colon cancer was conducted in Birjand educational hospitals. This study examined the patients whose colon cancers had been confirmed by a pathologist (2006-11). Statistics related to these patients were collected from pathology centers affiliated to Birjand University of Medical Sciences. Data were analyzed using descriptive (frequency and relative frequency) and analytical (chi square test) statistics. SPSS software was used to analyze the collected data. Results: Results of the present research showed that a total of 38 people with colon cancer were hospitalized in Birjand educational hospitals between 2006 and 2011. In the present study, there was a significant difference between the patients’ job and the type of morphology (P=0.018) and the therapeutic procedures (P=0.001); Adenocarcinoma was mainly reported among housewives (n=10, 76.9). Concerning therapeutic procedures, housewives underwent colectomy surgery more than other groups (n=8, 61.5). Conclusion: Controlling colon cancer which is one of the most common cancers in the world is a great epidemiologic success. The findings of this study presented a complete and exact image of epidemiology of this cancer in the region and provided the authorities with precious information; therefore, they can make decisions about identifying colon cancer risk factors in the region

Facilitating pre-operative assessment guidelines representation using SNOMED CT

Objective: To investigate whether SNOMED CT covers the terms used in pre-operative assessment guidelines, and if necessary, how the measured content coverage can be improved. Pre-operative assessment guidelines were retrieved from the websites of (inter)national anesthesiarelated societies. The recommendations in the guidelines were rewritten to ‘‘IF condition THEN action” statements to facilitate data extraction. Terms were extracted from the IF–THEN statements and mapped to SNOMED CT. Content coverage was measured by using three scores: no match, partial match and complete match. Non-covered concepts were evaluated against the SNOMED CT editorial documentation. Results: From 6 guidelines, 133 terms were extracted, of which 71% (n = 94) completely matched with SNOMED CT concepts. Disregarding the vague concepts in the included guidelines SNOMED CT’s content coverage was 89%. Of the 39 non-completely covered concepts, 69% violated at least one of SNOMED CT’s editorial principles or rules. These concepts were categorized based on four categories: non-reproducibility, classification-derived phrases, numeric ranges, and procedures categorized by complexity. Conclusion: Guidelines include vague terms that cannot be well supported by terminological systems thereby hampering guideline-based decision support systems. This vagueness reduces the content coverage of SNOMED CT in representing concepts used in the pre-operative assessment guidelines. Formalization of the guidelines using SNOMED CT is feasible but to optimize this, first the vagueness of some guideline concepts should be resolved and a few currently missing but relevant concepts should be added to SNOMED CT

The Use of SNOMED CT for Representing Concepts Used in Preoperative Guidelines

The use of guidelines to improve quality of care depends on presenting them in a standard machine-interpretable form and using common terms in guidelines as well as in patient records. In this study, the use of SNOMED CT for representing concepts used in preoperative assessment guidelines was evaluated. Terms used in six of these guidelines were mapped to this terminology. Mappings were presented based on three scores: no match, partial match, and complete match. As eleven of the terms were repeatedly used in different guidelines, we analyzed the results based on “token” and “type” coverage. Of 133 extracted terms from guidelines, 107 terms should be covered by SNOMED CT of which 87% was completely represented by this terminology. Our study showed that SNOMED CT content should be extended before preoperative assessment guidelines can be completely automated

A Comprehensive Review of Detection Methods for SARS-CoV-2

Recently, the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARSCoV-2 virus, in China and its subsequent spread across the world has caused numerous infections and deaths and disrupted normal social activity. Presently, various techniques are used for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with various advantages and weaknesses to each. In this paper, we summarize promising methods, such as reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), serological testing, point-of-care testing, smartphone surveillance of infectious diseases, nanotechnology-based approaches, biosensors, amplicon-based metagenomic sequencing, smartphone, and wastewaterbased epidemiology (WBE) that can also be utilized for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, we discuss principles, advantages, and disadvantages of these detection methods, and highlight the potential methods for the development of additional techniques and products for early and fast detection of SARS-CoV-2