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Reported rates of awareness and observation of patient's rights inside the country are very different. Likely in this regard, a systematic review can present a closer detail and coordination of subject to better decision-making and policy. So, this systematic review study was performed to determine the health services providers' viewpoint about the awareness and observation of patient's rights in Iran. Iranian prior related studies published in inner and outer databases were searched with keywords such as; patient's rights, patient's rights in Iran, patient bill of right, patient bill Iran and its equivalent Persian word and finally, relevant documents were entered to the study using systematic review studies criteria. Health service providers' average awareness of patient's rights was variable from 5.1 to 95.5 percent and also was variable for patient's rights charter from 1.8 to 93 percent. In other words, health service providers' overall awareness rate was 34.5 percent in good level, 46 percent in moderate percent and 19.5 percent in weak level. Also, health service providers' overall observation rate was 72.5 percent. Simple review of studied documents in this survey showed that average awareness of patient's rights places in low level. So, the compilation of comprehensive educational program in the form of training employee must recurrently consider with the health policy makers till reach to the acceptable level in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: The family physician is obliged to deliver qualified and comprehensive services according to the people`s need for provision, protection and improvement of their physical, mental, and social health. This study aimed at investigating patients' satisfaction from urban family physician program in Mazandaran province, Iran, 2015. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1500 patients were sampled through multi-level random method from several cities in Mazandaran province. Data was collected by a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 6 dimensions and 30 items including services, services delivery, services accessibility, physicians, assistants and picture of services (5 items in each dimension). Its validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was verified by internal consistency calculated for each dimension; 0.84, 0.86, 0.92, 0.79, 0.83, and 0.85, respectively. Results: We found that patients were only relatively satisfied with physicians (P< 0.001). Factor analysis showed that services (β= 0.48, t-value= 14.07), services delivery (β= 0.46, t-value= 12.68), services accessibility (β= 0.49, t-value= 14.28), physicians (β= 0.58, t-value= 17.09), assistants (β= 0.71, t-value= 20.82) and picture of services (β= 0.37, t-value= 10.39) are the factors that influence patients' satisfaction. Conclusion: According to this study, authorities in health care sector must work on increasing patients' satisfaction with the urban family physician program to deliver better health care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Urban family physician was implemented as a pilot project in Fars and Mazandaran provinces in Iran since 2012. This study aimed at SWOT analysis of urban family physician from the perspective of beneficiaries. Materials and methods: This qualitative research was conducted through in-depth and semistructured interviews in 2016. Nine people including faculty members, family physicians, senior managers and health professionals who were fully informed about the family physician project. They were selected via purposive sampling. Verbatim transcription of interview data was done and analyzed using framework method. Results: The main strengths included health services provision, easy accessibility to health services, classification of services, and decrease in unnecessary costs. The weak points according to SWOT analysis included management and planning, human resources, physical resources, referral system, electronic health records, payment mechanism, health services purchasing organizations, intersectoral coordination, and assessment and control systems. Authorities' support, legal backing, educated human resources, and capacity of private section along public section were identified as the opportunities of the project. Furthermore, failure in public-private sector cooperation, health market and, society needs were considered as the threats. Conclusion: This study showed the strengths and weaknesses of family physician plan, and the opportunities and threats it is faced with. Hence, it is necessary to find solutions and perform necessary interventions in order to eliminate the weaknesses and threats and maintain and improve the strengths and opportunities before its implementation throughout the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Hospitals are needed to have enough readiness for apt reaction toward unexpected disasters, therefore, it is important to identify developed healthcare centers in different regions. This study aimed to investigate the developmental levels of educational hospitals for facing unexpected disasters in Mazandaran Province, Iran. Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study in Mazandaran educational hospitals in 2015, 56 individuals including the heads, chief managers and the officials for unexpected crisis were selected via purposive sampling. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 222 items. Data analysis was performed by numerical taxonomy. Results: The participants were 88.5% males (n=23) and the mean age was 46.33±4.47 years. The educational level was Master in 5 (19%), while 21 (81%) hold a PhD degree. Results showed that Imam Khomeini hospital was relatively developed (0≤Fi≤0.5), Bu Ali, Fateme Zahra, Zare, Ayatollah Ruhani, and Amirkola pediatric hospitals were developing (0.5≤Fi≤0.7), and Razi and Shahid Beheshti hospitals were undeveloped (0.7≤Fi). Conclusion: This study showed that most of the educational hospitals in Mazandaran Province are in inappropriate developmental state for facing the unexpected disasters. So, policy-makers must identify developed healthcare centers and enhance all medical centers for confronting the unexpected disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]