The effectiveness of Balint group work on the quality of work life, resilience, and nurse–patient communication skills among psychiatric nurses: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundBalint group training has gained popularity in medical practices as an intervention designed to enhance the quality of life, well-being, and communication skills of healthcare practitioners. Psychiatric nurses, in particular, encounter distinct challenges and stressors inherent in their profession, necessitating the development and implementation of effective interventions to assist them in coping with the difficulties they experience. In this vein, the current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Balint group training on quality of work life, resilience, and nurse–patient communication skills among psychiatric nurses.MethodsThirty psychiatric nurses from Razi Hospital in Tehran were recruited via the purposeful sampling method in 2022 and were randomly assigned to either the Balint group, consisting of eight weekly one-hour training sessions, or a control group. Participants completed the Walton Quality of Work Life Questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Communication Skills Scale before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).ResultsThe study found no significant differences between the Balint group and the control group in terms of quality of work life, resilience, and nurse–patient communication skills.ConclusionFindings suggest that Balint group training was not an effective intervention for improving the well-being and communication skills of psychiatric nurses. However, the study highlights the need for further investigation into the potential factors that may explain the lack of significant gains and offers insights for future research in this area

Technical factors associated with polypharmacy management through Leavitt’s sociotechnical model

Background: Global advancement toward aging highlights inappropriate polypharmacy in the elderly as an increasingly critical health issue. Addressing this challenge can reduce adverse drug reactions and physical and cognitive impairments and improve older adults’ quality of life. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the technical aspect of polypharmacy management in the elderly with comorbidities through the socio-technical model for change management to help develop future roadmaps of current affairs. Methods: The present qualitative study was performed by conducting 35 semi-structured interviews with key informants selected by maximum variation purposive sampling in 2022. The interviews continued until theoretical saturation. To extract all factors in all domains of the health complex system, the WHO Health System Six Building Blocks factors were investigated through Leavitt’s socio-technical model for change management. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis with MAXQDA10 software. Results: The “Structure” and “Technology” dimensions of Leavitt’s model each consisted of two blocks of the WHO Framework. Regarding “Leadership & Governance” and “Financing” (structure), the following themes were identified: developing databases, optimizing homecare, and pharmaceutical cost management. In the blocks of “Medicine &Technology” and “information,” three other themes emerged: developing medicine formulations, innovative technologies, and technology-based self-care. The interviewees considered the “Structure” the most critical transitional factor in polypharmacy management. Conclusions: Stimulating, designing, and implementing strategies for polypharmacy change management requires identifying transitional factors by holistic approaches. Furthermore, shifting toward sustainable changes is possible based on well-developed infrastructures and adopting innovative, user-friendly technologies

Actual Costs of Residency Training in Teaching Hospitals: A Case of Iran

Background: There was a challenge for teaching hospitals to accept residents for educational goals due to their training costs. Objectives: The present study aimed to estimate the actual costs of residency training in hospitals for policymaking, budgetary impact, and negotiation. Methods: This retrospective study was performed in eight teaching hospitals affiliated with the Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, in 2018. Two scenarios were designed to estimate the costs of education per resident. All of the resources used by residents in the hospitals were identified. Cost items attributed to the training goals were allocated to the internal medicine and surgical fields; however, for cost items that were used for treatment and education, such as disposables and consumables and equipment, the cost drivers were used. Therefore, the difference between the scenarios was related to the cost drivers. Results: Overall, the selected hospitals had spent $586,720.35 and$ 572,358.10 based on scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. The residency training per surgical resident in the hospitals was about 1.2 times higher than an internal medicine resident. Surgery, neurology, urology, and anesthesiology were the f ields with the highest costs in the hospitals. Conclusion: Although residency training accounts for a large proportion of hospital costs, employing residents reduces the costs of human resources. Monitoring and controlling costs, as well as resource quotas for resident training, can be a way to reduce educational course costs in hospitals. Universities can cover some parts of the educational costs to motivate hospitals to make an appropriate setting for residents. Keywords: Cost Analyses, Academic Medical Centers, Internship and Residenc

Predicting Inpatient Length of Stay in Iranian Hospital: Conceptualization and Validation

Objective: The length of stay is an important indicator of hospital performance and efficiency. Regarding the importance of the length of stay, this study aimed to design a structural model of the inpatients’ length of stay in the educational and therapeutic health care facilities of Iran in order to identify the influencing dimensions. Methods:The present study was an analytical and applied study. The face validity of the data gathering tool was investigated by the expert judgment and the construct validity was examined by using the exploratory factor analysis. In order to verify the reliability of the tool, the internal consistency was also trialed by using the Cronbach’s alpha. For ranking the influencing dimensions and factors and also in order to examine the causal relationships between the variables in a coherent manner and presenting the final model, the structural equation modeling technique was used in AMOS software at a significant level of 0.05. Results: The mentioned structural model consists of 4 dimensions and 29 factors influencing the length of stay of hospitalized patients. The independent variables are based on priority and importance as follows: patients’ conditions, the underlying factors, the clinical staff performance, and hospitals’ service delivery, which were examined by second-order factor analysis in order to study the relationship between them and the inpatients’ length of stay. Conclusion: Considering the importance of each one of the proposed dimensions from the point of view of service providers in some therapeutic centers of the country by paying attention to the role of each one of them in preventing prolonged hospitalization can be essential in the effectiveness of the treatment and cost reduction

Predicting Inpatient Length of Stay in Iranian Hospital: Conceptualization and Validation

Objective: The length of stay is an important indicator of hospital performance and efficiency. Regarding the importance of the length of stay, this study aimed to design a structural model of the inpatients’ length of stay in the educational and therapeutic health care facilities of Iran in order to identify the influencing dimensions. Methods:The present study was an analytical and applied study. The face validity of the data gathering tool was investigated by the expert judgment and the construct validity was examined by using the exploratory factor analysis. In order to verify the reliability of the tool, the internal consistency was also trialed by using the Cronbach’s alpha. For ranking the influencing dimensions and factors and also in order to examine the causal relationships between the variables in a coherent manner and presenting the final model, the structural equation modeling technique was used in AMOS software at a significant level of 0.05. Results: The mentioned structural model consists of 4 dimensions and 29 factors influencing the length of stay of hospitalized patients. The independent variables are based on priority and importance as follows: patients’ conditions, the underlying factors, the clinical staff performance, and hospitals’ service delivery, which were examined by second-order factor analysis in order to study the relationship between them and the inpatients’ length of stay. Conclusion: Considering the importance of each one of the proposed dimensions from the point of view of service providers in some therapeutic centers of the country by paying attention to the role of each one of them in preventing prolonged hospitalization can be essential in the effectiveness of the treatment and cost reduction

A systematic review on the economic evaluations evidence of enhanced external counter-pulsation (EECP) for managing chronic stable angina

Chronic Stable Angina (CSA) does not respond to clinical interventions always. Therefore, enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) has been approved by the Food and Administration Drug (FDA) as an effective technology. This study aimed to synthesize evidence on the economic evaluation of EECP in managing CSA through a systematic approach. In this systematic review study, PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Sciences, Scopus, National Institute for Health Research Journals Library, and the University of York Centre for Review and Dissemination (CRD) were searched. The targeted population was people who suffered from CSA, and the main therapeutic intervention was EECP. The comparators were not limited to any particular ones. Outcomes were changes in the Canadian Cardiovascular Society grading of angina pectoris, quality of life, and any other investigated relevant outcomes in the retrieved studies. The quality of studies was assessed through Philips et al and Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools. We synthesized data through a narrative approach. We retrieved 7821 studies; among which 3 studies were included in the final phase. Two studies were systematic reviews and the Markov model economic evaluation. Another study was a partial economic evaluation. All studies only considered direct costs. EECP is a cost-effective technology in managing CSA, however, the sensitivity analysis of the studies showed the cost-effectiveness ratio is varied considerably and further studies are needed to extrapolate its economic value. [Abstract copyright: © 2022 Iran University of Medical Sciences.

Assessing the accessibility and degree of development in health care resources: evidence from the West of Iran

Introduction: Health care is one of the most important sectors in the development of each country and disparities in their distribution will reduce the level of development. The aim of this study was to examine the access to healthcare and degree of development in health care resources in the west of Iran in 2011. Method: This was a cross-sectional and retrospective study. The study setting was 51 cities of five western provinces of Iran, including Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Ilam, Lorestan and Hamadan. For assessing these towns in terms of the degree of development in healthcare resources by the numerical taxonomy technique, 23 indicators of health resources were selected and obtained from the statistics yearbook. The data was analyzed by EXCEL software. Results:Our study showed that the highest and lowest access to health care based on numerical taxonomy belonged to cities of Kermanshah (0.61) and Salas Babajani (1.07). Also, most towns of Ilam, Lorestan and Kurdistan provinces are underdeveloped and developing, while the most towns of Kermanshah and Hamadan provinces were placed in the developed region. Conclusion: This study showed that there was a large gap between the cities of one province and also among the provinces in terms of the access to and degree of development in health care resources. Therefore, it is suggested that a higher priority in terms of health resource allocation should be placed on the developing and underdeveloped areas in order to reduce these disparities

The challenges of implementation of clinical governance in Iran: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

Abstract Background Policy- and decision-makers seek to improve the quality of care in the health sector and therefore aim to improve quality through appropriate policies. Higher quality of care will satisfy service providers and the public, reduce costs, increase productivity, and lead to better organisational performance. Clinical governance is a method through which management can be improved and made more accountable, and leads to the provision of better quality of care. In November 2009, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education implemented new clinical guidelines to standardise and improve clinical services as well as to increase efficiency and reduce costs. The purpose of this study was to assess the challenges of implementing clinical governance through a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies published in Iran. Methods Ten databases, including ISI/Web of Sciences, PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Scopus, Barakatns, MagIran and the Scientific Information Database, were searched between January 2009 and May 2018. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. This study was reported according to the Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research guidelines. Thematic synthesis was used to analyse the data. Results Ten studies were selected and included based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria. In the first stage, 75 items emerged and were coded, and, following comparison and combination of the codes, 32 codes and 8 themes were finally extracted. These themes included health system structure, management, person-power, cultural factors, information and data, resources, education and evaluation. Conclusion The findings of the study showed that there exist a variety of challenges for the implementation of clinical governance in Iran. To successfully implement a health policy, its infrastructure needs to be created. Using the views and support of stakeholders can ensure that a policy is well implemented. Trial registration CRD42017079077. Dated October 10, 2017