Revenue sources of educational hospitals affiliated to Iranian Medical Universities (2007)

Background and Objective: In term of health and economic, Hospitals is the most important sector in the healthcare providers. Therefore it is necessary to use economic analysis to achieve optimum performance. This study was done to determine the revenue sources of 150 Iranian educational hospitals during 2007. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive analytical study, data was collected by using of web based software in 150 educational hospitals affiliated to medical universities in Iran. We used the questionnaire for gathering the hospital profile which was filled by experts of budget personel in Minstry of Health and Medical Education. Results: 23674 active beds were in 150 selected hospitals. The total revenue was 4116 billion Iranian rial. The two major sources of total revenue were insurance organizations reimbursement (75.97%) and out of packet payment (24.03%). Per bed revenue was 174 million rial. The composition insurance organizations reimbursement are medical services insurance organization (46.7%), social security organization (32%), army force insurance organization (5.8%), Emdad committee insurance (2.9%), traffic injuries (business insurance) (9.7%), donors funds (0.1%) and the other insurance program (2.7%). Conclusion: The revenue of hospitals in Iran, highly depended on insurance reimbursement. Therefore, the hospitals confront serious problem if insurance organizations delay the reimbursement

Determining Dimensions of Iranians’ Individual Social Health: A Qualitative Approach

Background: Social health is important to be assessed as a dimension of health. The aim of study was to determine domains and sub-domains of individual social health of Iranians.Methods: This study was carried out with a qualitative approach, using thematic content analysis. Twenty five experts participated in interviews, using individual semi-structured interviews between November 2010 and June 2011.This data supported with strong search.Results: Two main areas extracted from these interviews including social support and social function. The social support domain contained seventeen sub-areas, including social support at the time of disease; disability; daily life issues, etc. And the social function as second domain contained twelve sub-areas, including: financial aids to others; emotionally aids to others; participating in social groups, etc.Conclusion: We developed a conceptual framework for social health in the individual level in Iranian population. It makes preparations for providing a valid and reliable measurement scale for social health in next studies and evidence-based policy-making

The Effects of Postpartum Home Care on Constipation and Hemorrhoids at ‎Sixty Days Postpartum

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Constipation and hemorrhoids are common problems during the postpartum period. Therefore, effective measures should be taken to diminish the deleterious effects of these complications on maternal health. In this study, we aimed to determine the efficacy of postpartum home care on the rate of constipation and hemorrhoids. METHODS: This clinical trial was conducted in two phases on 276 women, who gave birth at hospitals, affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran, Iran in 2013. The subjects were divided into intervention (n=92) and control (n=184) groups. First, a model of care was designed by comparative analysis and collection of data on home care guidelines for mothers and newborns, applied in different countries. In the second stage, women received home care services, based on the proposed model (on days 3-5 and 13-15 postpartum). On the other hand, subjects in the control group did not receive any services. The rates of constipation and hemorrhoids were recorded and compared via history taking and clinical examinations by midwives on day 60 following delivery. (IRCT:2013060313565N1)   FINDINGS: The mean age of the participants was 27±5 years. Based on the evaluation of outcomes on day 60 following delivery, constipation was reported in 13% of cases in the intervention group and 26.1% of subjects in the control group (p=0.013). Moreover, hemorrhoids were reported in 12% and 9.8% of women in the intervention and control groups, respectively however, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of these complications. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, postpartum home care, complemented with physical exercise, a healthy diet, and use of laxatives in unresponsive cases to supportive treatment, could reduce constipation, whereas hemorrhoids remained unaffected.&nbsp

Monitoring Social Well-Being in Iran

The main aim of this study was to design a system for measuring and monitoring social well-being in Iran, utilizing a conceptual model and choosing contextually specific domains and indicators. A number of different approaches in defining and measuring social well-being exist. Some of these measuring systems use a descriptive approach and employ sets of indicators, which cover topics of concern but lack any explicit theoretical basis. To better capture the specific societal context of social well-being within Iran, we constructed a compound model from multiple pre-existing conceptual models, allowing us to group indicators and show relationships among contextually relevant areas and domains. Our framework proposes that there are societal and individual-level determinants that affect social health in a society and that social health has outcomes and impacts. To measure social health, variables of social integration, social contribution, social coherence, social actualization, social acceptance, social support, and social functioning are considered. The outcomes and impacts are to be measured and monitored by 37 variables. In many countries, social well-being measurements have been conducted on a regular basis for decades. Some of these systems of social health focus on individual (micro) measures, some on societal (macro) measures, and many on both. In this research, both individual level and societal level well-being measures were selected after being deemed contextually important for Iran. This system of social well-being measurement is to be used as a descriptive and monitoring tool but could potentially be utilized in goal setting, outcome-based accountability, and evaluations in order to promote social well-being and social policy research in Iran. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

A materials selection procedure for sandwiched beams via parametric optimization with applications in automotive industry

The future of automotive industry faces many challenges in meeting increasingly strict restrictions on emissions, energy usage and recyclability of components alongside the need to maintain cost competiveness. Weight reduction through innovative design of components and proper material selection can have profound impact towards attaining such goals since most of the lifecycle energy usage occurs during the operation phase of a vehicle. In electric and hybrid vehicles, weight reduction has another important effect of extending the electric mode driving range between stops or gasoline mode. This paper adopts parametric models for design optimization and material selection of sandwich panels with the objective of weight and cost minimization subject to structural integrity constraints such as strength, stiffness and buckling resistance. The proposed design procedure employs a pre-compiled library of candidate sandwich panel material combinations, for which optimization of the layered thicknesses is conducted and the best one is reported. Example demonstration studies from the automotive industry are presented for the replacement of Aluminum and Steel panels with polypropylene-filled sandwich panel alternatives. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd