Pouran Raeissi

Osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease and accounts for a large share of the burden of non-communicable diseases in Iran. The present systematic review examined the prevalence in different regions and types of OA in Iran. In this systematic review, we searched English and Persian research databases, such as Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science (WoS), Scientific Information Database (SID), IranMedex, Magiran, and IranDoc between 2000 and 2024. After removing duplicates, two authors independently evaluated the titles, abstracts, and full texts. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist was used to check the quality of the studies. We analyzed the extracted data using a narrative synthesis. After screening identified records, 13 articles were selected for analysis. About 39.02% of the studied population were men and 60.98% were women. The average age of the participants in these studies was 43.23 ± 15.04 years. The highest prevalence of the disease was observed in the knee with 28.7%. Women were 3.11% to 28.7% more likely than men to suffer from OA. Because the incidence of OA is increasing significantly, especially among women, it is recommended to take effective measures in the primary healthcare program and offer various service packages to improve women’s health. Additionally, health programs and policies aimed at non-surgical treatments and educational interventions are needed to reduce the burden of OA in Iran.

Financial protection refers to the health system’s ability to protect the population from the financial risk of ill health. Patients with cancer or special diseases are particularly vulnerable to catastrophic health spending and impoverishment, highlighting the urgent need for targeted financial protection strategies. Diseases such as haemophilia, thalassemia, dialysis, renal replacement therapy and multiple sclerosis (MS) are among the list of special diseases in Iran. This scoping review aims to identify existing strategies for financial protection for patients with cancer or special diseases in health systems. This scoping review utilized the Arksey and O’Malley framework and used the population–context–concept model to review publications related to financial protection for patients with cancer or special diseases from 2000 to 2024. The data were collected from three databases (PubMed, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science and Scopus) and two search engines (Google and Google Scholar). The keywords included “financial protection,” “financial risk protection,” “health insurance coverage,” “poor people” and “health services.” A total of 4625 articles were found, 17 of which were ultimately included in the final analysis. We identified seven main types of strategies for financial protection in health systems, including purchasing, prepaid mechanisms, financial support, benefits packages, infrastructure and facilities, intersectoral collaboration and economic support. Prepaid mechanisms are the most widely used main component of financial protection for patients with cancer and special diseases. Policy-makers and healthcare stakeholders must prioritize adaptable and context-specific solutions that account for local economic, social and healthcare realities.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare systems should ensure the provision of quality services to patients without harming them. However, the provision of services is occasionally accompanied by harm or complications, most of which are preventable. Most studies have focused on secondary healthcare rather than primary healthcare (PHC). Thus, this study aimed to identify various dimensions and components of patient safety in PHC worldwide. METHODS: This systematic review study was conducted in November 2022 based on PRISMA reporting guidelines. Studies were retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE and searched for English documents using the keywords “patient safety” and “PHC” from 2000 to 2022. Finally, two reviewers extracted the data independently and analyzed using thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 23 out of the initially 4937 identified articles were selected for the final analysis based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Most of these studies used a qualitative-quantitative approach (61.9%, seven studies for both), and 64% had been conducted in European countries. Eventually, five dimensions and 22 components were identified for patient safety in PHC, including management measures, quality management, resources and technology, documents, and patient-related factors. CONCLUSION: The patient safety dimensions and components identified in this research can help develop a clear definition of patient safety and its assessment standards and criteria in PHC. Considering that most previous studies on patient safety in PHC were conducted in European and developed countries, it is suggested that researchers conduct more studies in developing countries to fill this research gap.

Background & Aims: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is an acute, life-threatening complication that mainly occurs in individuals with autoimmune diabetes Mellitus (Type 1A). The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous insulin compared to intravenous insulin in the treatment of patients with diabetic ketoacidosis. Materials ...

Background: Defensive Medicine (DM) concept refers to all medical care provided by physicians without increasing the benefits to the patient, the primary purpose of which is to prevent the risk of litigation. Although several studies have been published investigating the occurrence of DM around the world, no review conducted on DM among physicians. Therefore, this study aims to summarize and map the available evidence on occurrence, types of behaviors, and reasons for practicing of DM among physicians and possible solutions and strategies to reduce DM in the literature.Methods: This is a scoping review in which we searched Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed in December 2021. Our target was original studies of any type that included data on DM among physicians between 2000 and 2021. We followed the JBI guideline for conducting a scoping review and for increasing the rigor of the study. First, the percentage was used to summarize the occurrence of DM, and then, findings related to types of behaviors and reasons for practicing DM and mitigation strategies were analyzed inductively in NVivo 10 in three stages.Results: Twenty-seven studies were included in the review. The overall occurrence of DM practice ranged from 6.7 to 99.8%. Two types of DM behaviors including assurance and avoidance behaviors have been identified. The common reasons for practicing DM were categorized into four themes, patient-related reasons, physician-related reasons, organization-related reasons, and society-related reasons. The main strategies to prevent or reduce DM are structured training and education, restoring physician-patient relationships, reform of the health system, and reform of the liability system.Conclusions: The vast majority of research studies were conducted in high-income countries, and studies are needed to measure this phenomenon and its consequences in depth in low- and middle-income countries. Various solutions and strategies are needed to reduce defensive behaviors such as structured training and education, restoring physician-patient relationships, reforming the health system, and reforming the liability system.Keywords: Defensive medicine, Defensive practice, Medical malpractice, Physicians, Scoping review

Background: Patient safety culture is an essential factor in determining the ability of hospitals to treat and reduce patient risks. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses, play an important role in patient safety because they are responsible for direct and ongoing patient care. Few studies in Iran examine the patient safety culture in Iranian teaching hospitals, particularly from the perspective of nursing staff. This research assessed patient safety culture in teaching hospitals in Iran from the nurses’ point of view and compared the outcomes with similar regional and global studies. Furthermore, the study identified the factors influencing patient safety culture and its association with outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was accomplished in thirty-two teaching hospitals in five provinces of Iran. A total of 2295 nurses were chosen through convenience sampling. Collection data were done using the Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture (HOPSC) from October 2018 and September 2019. We analyzed the data using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The results demonstrated the overall percentage of positive response rate for the HOPSC tool (36.4%). The average percentage of positive responses among all dimensions ranged from 27.1% in “Staffing” to 53.8% in “Teamwork across Hospital Units”. Benchmarking analysis shows that Iranian hospitals are equal or better performance than the benchmark on several composites compared to regional and global findings. The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that the age, gender, total years of experience in nursing, work area or unit, work hours, and size of the hospital were significant predictors of the perceptions patient safety culture of nurses (p < 0.05). Conclusions: This is one of few studies that examine nurses’ perceptions of patient safety culture in public hospitals in Iran. Although the results of the present study showed that the results of Iran were at or better than the many composites in Jordan, Turkey, KSA, and the Philippines. The findings confirmed that all 12 dimensions can be considered as areas requiring improvement, and these results demonstrated that there was a severe shortage in patient safety culture among the included hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Terminally, illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, dementia, and advanced heart disease will require special supportive and palliative care, although a few numbers of these patients are provided with these services. The aim of the present study was to perform a comparative study of supportive-palliative care provision in selected countries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was a descriptive comparative study that its research population was the frameworks of palliative and supportive care provision in Egypt, Turkey, America, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and China. These frameworks were compared across six dimensions of service receivers, financing, providers, service provider centers, type of services provided, and training. Data collection tool has included the checklist and information sources, documents, evidence, articles, books, and journals collected through the Internet and organizations related to the health information of selected countries and by the library search. Data were investigated and analyzed using the data collection tool and checklists. FINDINGS: The findings showed that the developed countries having decentralized trusteeship structure had a more favorable status in palliative and supportive care provision. The type of services provided was a combination of mental, psychological, social, spiritual, financial, and physical and communication services. Provider centers included hospital, the elderly, and cancer and charity centers. CONCLUSION: Regarding the investigation and recognition of the status of supportive-palliative care provision, it was observed that the provision of these services was a concern of the selected countries, but they did not have a defined model or pattern to provide these services. Therefore, it is suggested that each country takes a step to redesign and define frameworks and structures in the evolution of supportive-palliative cares in accordance with the particular conditions, indigenous culture, religion, and other effective cases of that country and pays special attention to the role and position of supportive-palliative cares.

Palliative care and terminal patients care centers have an important role in improving the physical and psychological state of the patient and their families and increasing their satisfaction and care providers. A literature search of online databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, Cochrane library, and Google Scholar) was searched from January 1, 2000, to the end of April 2019, by using the appropriate English keywords. Furthermore, IranMedex, Barkat, and Magiran databases were searched for the Persian articles. We used Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist to evaluate the articles quality. From 1328 articles, 166 were reviewed in depth with 13 satisfying our inclusion criteria. The findings of this study revealed a wide range of barriers and challenges to palliative care delivery. The identified barriers were: Cultural, social and organizational barriers, lack of resources, equipment and financing, attitudes and cultures, barriers related to the patient and the patient's family, related barriers providers, time and money, education, communication challenges, policies, insurance problems, safety, and crisis management. The results of the studies showed that there are various barriers and challenges such as economic, cultural, social, organizational, and communication related to palliative care. Given the identified barriers and challenges, it is suggested that to improve the delivery of palliative care, the health system policy-makers and planners consider a resource-appropriate and culturally appropriate framework for palliative care delivery.

Background: Patient safety culture is an important factor in determining hospitals’ ability to address and reduce the occurrence of adverse events (AEs). However, few studies have reported on the impact of nurses’ perceptions of patient safety culture on the occurrence of AEs. Our study aimed to assess the association between nurses’ perception of patient safety culture and their perceived proportion of adverse events. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 2295 nurses employed in thirty-two teaching hospitals in Iran. Nurses completed the Persian version of the hospital survey of patients’ safety culture between October 2018 and September 2019. Results: Positive Response Rates of overall patient safety culture was 34.1% and dimensions of patient safety culture varied from 20.9 to 43.8%. Also, nurses estimated that the occurrence of six adverse events varied from 51.2–63.0% in the past year. The higher nurses’ perceptions of “Staffing”, “Hospital handoffs and transitions”, “Frequency of event reporting”, “Non-punitive response to error”, “Supervisor expectation and actions promoting safety”, “Communication openness”, “Organizational learning continuous improvement”, “Teamwork within units”, and “Hospital management support patient safety” were significantly related to lower the perceived occurrence at least two out of six AEs (OR = 0.69 to 1.46). Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that nurses’ perception regarding patient safety culture was low and the perceived occurrence of adverse events was high. The research has also shown that the higher level of nurses’ perception of patient safety culture was associated with lowered occurrence of AEs. Hence, managers could provide prerequisites to improve patient safety culture and reduce adverse events through different strategies, such as encouraging adverse events’ reporting and holding training courses for nurses. However, further research is needed to assess how interventions addressing patient safety culture might reduce the occurrence of adverse events.