the objective of this study has been to examine the relationship between home and the hospital confinement in the treatment of serious illness and the impact of such phenomena on the pattern of the delivery of health care in the rural areas. in this study a total of 10,248 inhabitants of 11 villages in isphahan (mobarakeh area) were studied during a six months period between march and september...

Background and Objectives: Discharge against medical advice (DAMA) is a significant healthcare problem posing negative impact on effectiveness of patient care and costs of the health system. In order to address this problem, first the potential influencing factor should be identifies. This study followed two major objectives: first, to evaluate the prevalence and potential causes of DAMA, and s...

Background and Objectives: The Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education has introduced clinical gov‌ernance as the accepted model of hospital healthcare improvement. Subsequently, a growing movement for implementing clinical governance in health facilities has emerged. This study aimed to explore the opinions of the relevant experts and executives to provide insight into current challen...

Introduction The relationship between admission time and ICU outcome is contentious with studies showing it is associated with a poor outcome [1], and contradictory studies that suggest there is no difference [2]. This study compared ICU outcomes between daytime (DT) and night-time (NT) admissions in our local medical intensive care unit. NT admissions were defined as those between 20:00 and 07...

As the use of intravenous devices (IVD) has risen so have the number of serious complications, mainly infectious, associated with its use. In fact, IVD are currently the most important independent cause of nosocomial infection in the health care sector [1,2]. Catheter-related infections (CRI) are the leading cause of primary septicemia with a high prevalence leading to increased hospital stays ...

The quality of care within care homes comes under frequent media scrutiny, and is underpinned by the medical support to the staff. In the UK, medical care to care homes is provided by general practitioners. A GP is likely to have patients in many homes, and each home relates to many GPs. The growing complexity of patients in care requires proactive models of care delivered by those with an unde...

In this environment of expanding information needs, spiraling journal costs, and curtailed financial resources, medical libraries must take advantage of the rapid evolution in document delivery services. There are exciting developments in transmission technology, from fax machines to scanners to the Internet. There is also a notable shift away from the traditional reliance on library networks t...

AIMS To describe English specialist palliative care (SPC) services' provision for, and attitude to, heart failure patients, and to identify developments of particular interest or expertise in this area. METHOD Postal survey of all lead consultants of English SPC services, September 2004. RESULTS Of 397 services, 233 replied (response rate 59%); 222 (95%) thought SPC had a role in severe/end...