A Comparison of Service Quality in Teaching and Non-teaching Hospitals: The Gap Analysis

Introduction: Service quality is a judgment that the customer compares his/her expectations by this judgment, with the perception of the received services. The purpose of this study was to compare service quality in teaching hospitals with non-teaching hospitals in Kerman city. Methods: This cross-sectional study has been done on 166 hospitalized patients and the standard SERVQUAL questionnaire with an approved validity and reliability was used. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 19. Results: The results show that the service quality from the patients’ perception in non-teaching hospitals is more than the teaching hospitals (p=0.002). Most of the service quality gap is in the tangibility dimensions and also in providing amenities for patients and their companions. Conclusion: Teaching setting of the hospital typically can cause poor subjectivity in patients about the quality of services provided and it is recommended that authorities identify factors causing these kind of thinking and solve them. Also the negative scores indicate a need for improvement in all aspects, especially the tangibility dimensions having the maximum gap

A Review of Recent Passive Heat Transfer Enhancement Methods

[EN] Improvements in miniaturization and boosting the thermal performance of energy conservation systems call for innovative techniques to enhance heat transfer. Heat transfer enhancement methods have attracted a great deal of attention in the industrial sector due to their ability to provide energy savings, encourage the proper use of energy sources, and increase the economic efficiency of thermal systems. These methods are categorized into active, passive, and compound techniques. This article reviews recent passive heat transfer enhancement techniques, since they are reliable, cost-effective, and they do not require any extra power to promote the energy conversion systems' thermal efficiency when compared to the active methods. In the passive approaches, various components are applied to the heat transfer/working fluid flow path to improve the heat transfer rate. The passive heat transfer enhancement methods studied in this article include inserts (twisted tapes, conical strips, baffles, winglets), extended surfaces (fins), porous materials, coil/helical/spiral tubes, rough surfaces (corrugated/ribbed surfaces), and nanofluids (mono and hybrid nanofluids).Ajarostaghi, SSM.; Zaboli, M.; Javadi, H.; Badenes Badenes, B.; Urchueguía Schölzel, JF. (2022). A Review of Recent Passive Heat Transfer Enhancement Methods. Energies. 15(3):1-55. https://doi.org/10.3390/en1503098615515

Key Performance Indicators in Field Hospital Appraisal: A Systematic Review

Background: Field hospitals are health care institutions with mobile or fixed structures. Although there have been numerous models and indicators for assessing the performance of public hospitals, there is no model to evaluate the performance of field hospitals. Objectives: This study was aimed at determining key performance indicators in field hospital appraisal. Methods: In this study, we conducted a systematic review of publications in English or Persian language indexed by PubMed, Scopus, Emerald, Elsevier, Ovid, Google Scholar, Springer, ProQuest, WHO and Word Bank databases. PICO strategy was used for searching databases. Quality assessment of the publications were carried out using CASP checklist. Similarly, the preferred reporting items for PRISMA checklist were used to assess systematic reviews. The PRISMA checklist was used to guide the reporting of the systematic review. A descriptive summary with data tables was produced to summarize the literature. Following the results of our search, 592 publications were retrieved and 352 citations were excluded because of irrelevance or duplication. After excluding the duplicate and irrelevant items we screened 240 titles and abstracts. Two independent reviewers evaluated 240 potentially relevant studies, and 15 records met the criteria to be included in this review. Results: We found 13 criteria on the assessment of field hospital in the literature. We classified all the retrieved indicators according to the system approach. The results of this study showed that input indicators included 4 indicators, process indicators included 2 indicators, output indicators consisted of 4 indicators and outcome indicators involved 3 indicators. Conclusions: This study highlights the most important performance measurement indicators in field hospitals with a system approach. There was no model to assess the field hospitals; however, a systematic approach in assessment can improve the quality of services

Nationwide Prevalence of Diabetes and Prediabetes and Associated Risk Factors Among Iranian Adults: Analysis of Data from PERSIAN Cohort Study

Introduction Over the past decades prevalence of diabetes has increased in Iran and other countries. This study aimed to update the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes in Iran and to determine associated sociodemographic risk factors, as well as diabetes awareness and control. Methods This is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey that included 163,770 Iranian adults aged 35-70 years, from different ethnic backgrounds, between 2014 and 2020. Diabetes was diagnosed at fasting blood sugar of >= 6.99 mmol/L (126 mg/dL), or receiving blood glucose-lowering treatment. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to detect determinants associated with prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes, as well as predictors of diabetes awareness and glycemic control. Results Sex- and age-standardized prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes was 15.0% (95% CI 12.6-17.3) and 25.4% (18.6-32.1), respectively. Among patients with diabetes, 79.6% (76.2-82.9) were aware of their diabetes. Glycemic control was achieved in 41.2% (37.5-44.8) of patients who received treatment. Older age, obesity, high waist to hip ratio (WHR), and specific ethnic background were associated with a significant risk of diabetes and prediabetes. Higher awareness of diabetes was observed in older patients, married individuals, those with high WHR, and individuals with high wealth score. Moreover, glycemic control was significantly better in women, obese individuals, those with high physical activity, educational attainment, and specific ethnic background. Conclusions The prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in Iranian adults. High proportion of uncontrolled patients require particular initiatives to be integrated in the health care system

Thermal Performance Enhancement Using Absorber Tube with Inner Helical Axial Fins in a Parabolic Trough Solar Collector

In the present work, a parabolic trough solar (PTC) collector with inner helical axial fins as swirl generator or turbulator is considered and analyzed numerically. The three-dimensional numerical simulations have been done by finite volume method (FVM) using a commercial CFD code, ANSYS FLUENT 18.2. The spatial discretization of mass, momentum, energy equations, and turbulence kinetic energy has been obtained by a second-order upwind scheme. To compute gradients, Green-Gauss cell-based method has been employed. This work consists of two sections where, first, four various geometries are appraised, and in the following, the selected schematic of the collector from the previous part is selected, and four various pitches of inner helical fins including 250, 500, 750 and 1000 mm are studied. All the numerical results are obtained by utilizing the FVM. Results show that the thermal performance improvement by 23.1% could be achieved by using one of the proposed innovative parabolic trough solar collectors compare to the simple one. Additionally, the minimum and maximum thermal performance improvement (compare to the case without fins) belong to the case with P = 250 mm by 14.1% and, to the case with P = 1000 mm by 21.53%, respectively

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha antibodies in fistulizing crohn's disease: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Medical treatment for fistulizing Crohn's disease (FCD) is changing rapidly over the time by the introduction of novel therapeutic medicines, while no global consensus is available. This study aims to accomplish a systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of tumor necrosis factor-alpha antibodies (anti-TNF-α antibodies) versus placebo in FCD. A systematic review of published literature was carried out till December 2016, and a meta-analysis of identified studies was done. Data have been explored from PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library Database, and Web of Science. Predefined exclusion criteria for included studies in meta-analysis are based on search methodology and are as follows: Randomized clinical trial about Crohn's disease (CD) patients without fistula, pediatrics CD, randomized clinical trials about pregnant women with FCD, nonhuman studies, randomized clinical trials with surgical therapies interventions, conference abstracts, case reports, and language other than English studies. All randomized placebo-controlled trials were included. To assess risk of bias, Jadad score was applied to evaluate trials' methodological quality. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals were computed using Mantel-Haenszel and/or Rothman-Boice (for fixed effects) or Der Simonian-Laird (for random effects) techniques. Nine studies attained defined inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis results showed that anti-TNF-α antibodies are remarkably more effective in comparison to placebo for fistula closure maintenance (RR = 2.36; 95% confidence interval: 1.58–3.55; P < 0.0001) in patients with FCD, whereas anti-TNF-α antibodies were not superior to placebo neither in fistula improvement nor in fistula closure. We concluded that adalimumab and certolizumab pegol are both effective in fistula closure maintenance in adult patients with FCD

Health Sector Coordination in Disasters: Barriers & Facilitators

Background: Coordination is a critical factor in successful organization and appropriate response to disasters. In this regard, a centralized coordination mechanism is the first step towards an effective, efficient, and sustainable response in order to be ensured of the short- and long-term recovery. Thus, this study aimed to identify and prioritize the barriers and facilitators of coordination in disasters. Materials and Methods: This research was a descriptive and cross-sectional study, conducted in 2016. The participants comprised 22 experts in field of disaster. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire according to the analytical hierarchy process approach. For data analysis, we used Expert Choice software. Results: Based on the results, &ldquo;dominance of organizational approach instead of national points of view when addressing the health management during disasters,&rdquo; took the first priority rank, earning the score of 0.344 among the barriers. Furthermore, among the facilitators, &ldquo;having a processive and organizational view in health management during disasters,&rdquo; took the first priority rank, earning the score of 0.374. Conclusion: To increase the effective coordination in health area, we should develop infrastructure and structural measures, which include bolstering authorities&rsquo; belief about the health system&rsquo;s role in the response to disasters, reinforcing the national approach rather than organizational approach in the field of health at disasters, implementing the coordination requirements, attending sufficiently and specifically to public participation, reducing the organizational friction in the health field for sharing resources and information, raising the level of readiness with a focus on people and training programs, and finally creating an evolutionary process in the health field at disasters

A Review of Recent Passive Heat Transfer Enhancement Methods

Improvements in miniaturization and boosting the thermal performance of energy conservation systems call for innovative techniques to enhance heat transfer. Heat transfer enhancement methods have attracted a great deal of attention in the industrial sector due to their ability to provide energy savings, encourage the proper use of energy sources, and increase the economic efficiency of thermal systems. These methods are categorized into active, passive, and compound techniques. This article reviews recent passive heat transfer enhancement techniques, since they are reliable, cost-effective, and they do not require any extra power to promote the energy conversion systems&rsquo; thermal efficiency when compared to the active methods. In the passive approaches, various components are applied to the heat transfer/working fluid flow path to improve the heat transfer rate. The passive heat transfer enhancement methods studied in this article include inserts (twisted tapes, conical strips, baffles, winglets), extended surfaces (fins), porous materials, coil/helical/spiral tubes, rough surfaces (corrugated/ribbed surfaces), and nanofluids (mono and hybrid nanofluids)