indicators of utilization as a means for assessment of health information management systems

introduction : indicators are regarded as tools of evaluating different situations in all systems. hospitals as a part of health systems are not an exception. they should also be evaluated based on different views, the main aim of this study was to determine the rate of utilization of hospital resources in isfahan province. methods : this is a descriptive, trend study which was carried out in isfahan province. a total of 1920 data sheets collected from 1997 to 2001 were analyzed. these data belonged to 32 hospitals located across the province. the form was a validated tool for data collection and was used throughout the country. results : total mean of bed occupancy (bor) was 42.2% during the study period. training hospitals with 54.3% showed the highest rate while district hospitals were the lowest (41.4%). the average length of stay (los) was 2.6 days. the length of stay in training hospitals was 3.6 days, 1.9 days in private hospitals and 4.4 days in the regional ones. bed turn over rate was 3.3 days during the studied five year period. conclusion : in the third world countries, the number of hospital beds is far less than the minimum required for the population. according to international standards, there should be three hospital beds for a thousand people in the community. in our country there is 1.5 beds per one thousand and despite this shortage, even this capacity is not correctly used so that more than 50% of hospital beds are vacant and since they stand far away from the right place. key words : health status indicators; efficiency, organizational; management information system