Drinking water resources criteria in emergencies and disasters:A systematic literature review

Background: Disasters occur unexpectedly each year, killing thousands around the world. Millions are directly under the influence of the outcomes of these events and their survival depends on the immediate state and international aid. This supports should be obtained in early hours after disasters. The main important need after disasters is safe water supply, which along with providing shelter, medicine, and nutrition, is vital to prevent diseases. So, immediate actions are needed to replace suitable drinking water resources for affected people. Methods: This study was conducted in 2019 using Web of Science, PupMed, Springer, Scopus, Embase databases (from 2000 to 31 September 2019). The PRISMA guideline was used to compile the study. All articles included in this study were original articles, short communications, letters to editor, editorials, systematic reviews, and articles presented at conferences and international congresses on the main topic of the study. Only English full-text articles were included in this study. Results: According to the results, water resources supply in disasters and emergencies criteria were classified into 4 main and 30 sub-criteria. The main criteria include environmental, economic, technology performance, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of water resources, which have 4, 2, 12, and 12 sub-criteria, respectively. Conclusion: This study intends to assist disaster service officials and decision makers and supervisors to plan for drinking water supply from area water resources, before the disaster and based on the history and geographical characteristics of the area, to take actions and meet the drinking water needs of the region. Keywords: Disaster, Emergency, Drinking water, Criteri

Providing a Framework for E-readiness Assessment and Action for E-Commerce in Ramak Dairy Company in Shiraz

This study aimed to provide a framework to assess the e-readiness of Ramak Company in Shiraz. To that end, after reviewing the related literature in the field of e-readiness and selecting the proper model, the model parameters were distributed among experts in the form of a questionnaire, and with the help of fuzzy screening, 49 indicators were finalized. Then, using the combination method of DEMATEL and Analysis of Network process, weight of the indicators was obtained. Finally, e-readiness of the indicators was investigated through proper statistical tests. The analysis indicated that the company had necessary preparation in the following indicators “market share of company” and “compliance with quality of ICT international standards”, “high bandwidth availability” and “diversity of communication channels available”, “quality of national wide ICT infrastructures” and “obstacles of trade investment” and any other observation. By doing the gap analysis, it was found that the dimensions of external environment readiness, the ICT readiness and external environment readiness, respectively had the highest priorities for enforcement action

Key performance indicators in hospital based on balanced scorecard model

Introduction: Performance measurement is receiving increasing verification all over the world. Nowadays in a lot of organizations, irrespective of their type or size, performance evaluation is the main concern and a key issue for top administrators. The purpose of this study is to organize suitable key performance indicators (KPIs) for hospitals’ performance evaluation based on the balanced scorecard (BSC). Method: This is a mixed method study. In order to identify the hospital’s performance indicators (HPI), first related literature was reviewed and then the experts’ panel and Delphi method were used. In this study, two rounds were needed for the desired level of consensus. The experts rated the importance of the indicators, on a five-point Likert scale. In the consensus calculation, the consensus percentage was calculated by classifying the values 1-3 as not important (0) and 4-5 to (1) as important. Simple additive weighting technique was used to rank the indicators and select hospital’s KPIs. The data were analyzed by Excel 2010 software. Results: About 218 indicators were obtained from a review of selected literature. Through internal expert panel, 77 indicators were selected. Finally, 22 were selected for KPIs of hospitals. Ten indicators were selected in internal process perspective and 5, 4, and 3 indicators in finance, learning and growth, and customer, respectively. Conclusion: This model can be a useful tool for evaluating and comparing the performance of hospitals. However, this model is flexible and can be adjusted according to differences in the target hospitals. This study can be beneficial for hospital administrators and it can help them to change their perspective about performance evaluation

Investigating the Development and Access to Healthcare Services across Iranian Provinces

Background: A country’s health status and the accessibility of its people to various healthcare services represent important indicators of development. This study investigated the development of Iranian provinces and measured their accessibility to healthcare services. Methods: The study extracted data from the statistical yearbook over five years (2015-2019) and analyzed the data through multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. More specifically, numerical taxonomy was used to measure the level of development in each province, the CRITIC method helped to calculate the weights of the indicators, and the combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) method was employed to rank the Iranian provinces. Results: The findings of taxonomy analysis demonstrated that provinces such as East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, Fars, Kerman, Gilan, and Mazandaran were among the Iranian provinces that had reached satisfactory development. The ranking of the provinces using the CoCoSo method revealed that provinces such as Semnan, Yazd, Ilam, and South Khorasan were the most privileged regions in terms of accessibility to healthcare services. Conclusion: Comparing the health indicators over different years showed that, despite the progress of all Iranian provinces, there were marked differences in the distribution of healthcare services across the country

A comprehensive map of the evidence on the performance evaluation indicators of public hospitals: a scoping study and best fit framework synthesis

Abstract Introduction Key performance indicators are essential navigation tools for hospitals. They provide managers with valid information enabling them to identify institutional strengths and weaknesses and improve managerial performance. In this study, the synthesis of evidence relating to hospital performance indicators was carried out by means of a field review and the indicators were analyzed through the Best Fit Method. Methods The five-step approach of Arksey and O’Malley was used as follows: selection of the research question; search for related studies; selection and refinement of the studies; synthesis and tabulation of key information; derivation of the related summary and report. Applying the Best Fit Framework Synthesis Method, the initial themes and subthemes were created and a model of public hospitals performance evaluation finally generated. Results Forty-nine studies were considered eligible to form part of the synthesis. The final model included the efficiency/productivity, effectiveness and financial themes. The efficiency/productivity sub-themes incorporated human resources indicators, hospital beds, costs, operating room productivity, emergency rooms, ICU, radiology, labs, technology and equipment productivity. Other sub-themes relate to general indicators such as BOR, ALS, number of outpatients and hospitalized patients. Financial themes included profit, revenue, cash flow, cost, investment, assets, debt and liquidity. Concerning effectiveness, the indicators were categorized in terms of access (equity), safety, quality and responsiveness. The accountability indicators were classified into patient-centeredness, staff orientation, and social responsibility. Conclusion Hospital performance management is a multi-dimensional issue, each dimension having its own significance. Based on the evidence, indicators are dependent on the evaluation model employed, the evaluation objective, and the views of executive managers and participants in the study. Selection of the most appropriate indicators is therefore key to a comprehensive performance evaluation system

Prioritizing the performance of civil development projects in governmental administration agencies, using gray relational analysis (GRA) and TOPSIS approach

A key indicator to evaluate the success of an organization is the degree of meeting specific civil project goals based on a predetermined schedule. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of governmental administration agencies based on realization of civil project goals. In this paper, the information published by the President Deputy of Strategic Planning and Control, that publishes an annual report of evaluation indicators for national civil development projects, are used to evaluate and prioritize the major and non-major governmental agencies. Also, the Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) and the TOPSIS method are employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that using the GRA method, Supreme Council of Seminary and using the TOPSIS method, The Ministry of Labor and Social Affaires have gained the highest ranking

Project Supply Chain Risk Management in Gas Transfer Pipeline: Grounded Theory Approach

Regarding to the increasing importance of supply chain risk in the last decade in general and projects especially, in this research the dimensions and elements of supply chain risk of projects have been determined. Therefore, Fars Gas Transfer Pipeline projects were considered to discover codes and themes according to the phenomena by using Grounded Theory (Corbin and Strauss method). Based on final paradigm model, project supply chain risk management issue was categorized in 6 main dimensions, 19 sub-dimensions and 57 codes. The results show that supply chain risks as a core phenomenon, consists of environmental risks, organizational risks and network risks. To do this, we use theoretical sampling and interview with 10 experts from Gas state company and some suppliers. These interview was deep one because we employed open questionnaire. Then by using open encoding, axial encoding and selective encoding, paradigm model was extracted. The main phenomenon placed the center of model and other themes joined to tha

Statins in patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study in Iranian COVID-19 patients.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has profoundly affected the lives of millions of people. To date, there is no approved vaccine or specific drug to prevent or treat COVID-19, while the infection is globally spreading at an alarming rate. Because the development of effective vaccines or novel drugs could take several months (if not years), repurposing existing drugs is considered a more efficient strategy that could save lives now. Statins constitute a class of lipid-lowering drugs with proven safety profiles and various known beneficial pleiotropic effects. Our previous investigations showed that statins have antiviral effects and are involved in the process of wound healing in the lung. This triggered us to evaluate if statin use reduces mortality in COVID-19 patients. Results: After initial recruitment of 459 patients with COVID-19 (Shiraz province, Iran) and careful consideration of the exclusion criteria, a total of 150 patients, of which 75 received statins, were included in our retrospective study. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used to estimate the association between statin use and rate of death. After propensity score matching, we found that statin use appeared to be associated with a lower risk of morbidity [HR = 0.85, 95% CI = (0.02, 3.93), P = 0.762] and lower risk of death [(HR = 0.76; 95% CI = (0.16, 3.72), P = 0.735)]; however, these associations did not reach statistical significance. Furthermore, statin use reduced the chance of being subjected to mechanical ventilation [OR = 0.96, 95% CI = (0.61-2.99), P = 0.942] and patients on statins showed a more normal computed tomography (CT) scan result [OR = 0.41, 95% CI = (0.07-2.33), P = 0.312]. Conclusions: Although we could not demonstrate a significant association between statin use and a reduction in mortality in patients with COVID19, we do feel that our results are promising and of clinical relevance and warrant the need for prospective randomized controlled trials and extensive retrospective studies to further evaluate and validate the potential beneficial effects of statin treatment on clinical symptoms and mortality rates associated with COVID-19