فوزیه طهماسبی

 Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of curriculums and updating them in accordance with the future needs of students and the qualifications corresponding to their job positions is of particular importance. This study aims to identify the shortcomings of the current curriculum of Health Information Management for PhD students in Iran.

 This descriptive study was conducted in 2021. The study population included all professors in the department of health information technology & management and the department of medical informatics and all PhD students and graduates in health information management from medical universities in Iran who were selected for the study by a census sampling method. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire, by which the relevance and applicability of the courses and amount of required revision in the courses were evaluated. Data were analyzed in SPSS software, version 19. The answers to the open-ended questions were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis approach.

 Out of 67 participants, 61.1% were faculty members. In terms of relevance, the courses “Clinical Governance Information Systems” and “Health Information Economy”, and in terms of applicability, the courses “Clinical Governance Information Systems”, “Health Information Economy”, and “Methods for Improving and Managing Information Quality” were identified as the courses required modifications. Regarding the amount of required revision, most of the courses, except for “Advanced Statistical Methods”, “Thesis”, “Research Seminar” and “Design and Development of Health Information Systems No. 1”, needed serious revision.

 It seems necessary to modify the curriculum of health information management for PhD students in Iran to improve the quality of education in this filed and respond to the needs of graduates based on the changes in the health field toward digital health and health information technologies.

The incidence of osteoporotic fractures, which leads to morbidity and mortality in the elderly, is increasing worldwide. Mobile health application could empower patients to engage in managing their own health. This has a significant impact on improving health outcomes in chronic diseases. For this reason, this study was conducted to develop a mobile-based self-management application for patients with Osteoporotic fractures.

In this descriptive-developmental study, initially, the data required in this research were collected through searching in library resources, clinical guidelines and application review. Then, a questionnaire was applied by physician to validate and determine the significance of these elements and the rational design of application was provided with the obtained elements. Finally, the application was developed in Android Studio environment and then evaluated.

The main application parts include: Disease prevention information, fracture risk assessment tool and information for self-management in osteoporotic fractures care which was divided into two parts: Hip fracture and other fractures. Moreover, provides functions like exercise program adjustments, reminders and patient records. The application functions were evaluated and was able to meet the expectations.

This is a mobile application with validated content and can be used to help patients with osteoporotic fractures to manage their disease and to obtain self-management skills.

The importance of managing medicines and medical devices as vital resources in healthcare industry cannot be ignored. Therefore, the application of coding systems could be of great help in the control of the required processes. This study aims to develop a coding system for medicines and medical devices in Iran.

This descriptive study was planned to be carried out in four phases from September 2018 to August 2019. To identify the requirements of designing a coding system for the classification of medicines and medical devices, library resources were studied, and the existing coding systems in the area of medicines and medical devices came under scrutiny. Then, based on the expert opinion on the results, the initial model of the coding system was designed.

Thirty-five coding systems were identified and investigated. To design the proposed system, two coding systems -- ATC/DDD and UMDNS -- were selected as a core for medicines and medical devices, respectively. Then, based on expert opinion, the axes for the place of consumption and the placement of products and also the application of Quick Response (QR) code for data encoding were added.

The design and development of a comprehensive coding system–which is in compliance with the international protocols and capable of including both medicines and medical devices simultaneously – could be very helpful. Besides, using the location axis in the structure of coding system can improve the management of these products.