BackgroundPatient’s Informal payments is among the main source of health care financing in some countries. This paper aimed at determining the patient informal payments and relative factors in Cardiac Surgery Departments (CSD) in hospitals affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS) in 2013.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 316 discharged patients were selected using multi-stage sampling. Data gathering tool was a questionnaire which was filled by structured telephone interviews. We used quantitative content analysis for open-ended questions besides descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests by SPSS 16 at 0.05 Sig level.ResultsSixteen (5.93%) patients made voluntary informal payments. The purpose of payment was: “gratitude” (43.75%), satisfaction with health services provided” (31.25%) and (18.75%) for better quality of services. About 75% of the payments were occurred during receiving health care services. The main causes were “no request for informal payments” (98.14%), “not affording to pay for informal payments” (73.33%) and “paying the hospital expenses by taking out a loan” (55.91%). Responders said they would pay informally in demand situation (51.85%) just for patient’s health priority, 40.71% would also “search for other alternative solutions” and 27.33% “accepted the demand as a kind of gratitude culture”. Twenty four patients (8.9%) had experienced mandatory informal payments during the last 6 months. The minimum amount of payment was 62.5$ and the maximum was 3125$. There was a significant relationship between the way of referring to medical centers and informal patient's payment (P ≤0.05).ConclusionDespite the widespread prevalent belief about informal payments in public hospitals —particularly to the well-known physicians — such judgment cannot be generalized. The main reasons for the low informal payments in the current study were the personality characteristics of the physicians and hospital staff, their moral conscience and commitment to professional ethics, cultural factors and social-economic status of the patients. Health care system should notify people about their rights specially the payments calculation mechanism and methods. Better communication with the public and especially the media can help to correct attitude toward these payments.
Background & Objectives: The relationship between oral diseases and adverse outcomes of pregnancy demands more attention to oral hygiene for pregnant women. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of educational programs based on the theory of planned behavior to improving the oral health behavior of pregnant women attending urban health facilities Ashkhaneh city in 2013. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out on 150 pregnant women, selected with simple sampling.(75 females of each site). Data were collected using a researcher desingend questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated. Data was analyzed by SPSS 18 software at significance level of 0.05. Results: The most frequent samples aged between 21-25 years old. Before the intervention, the mean score of knowledge, attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, behavioral intention and performance of the intervention and control groups showed no significant difference (p>0/05). After the intervention, the average of all the scores in the intervention group showed an increase except for subjective constructions after training (p<0/05). This difference was not significant in the control group (p> 0/05). Conclusion: Using the theory of planned behavior improves oral health in the pregnant women.
Background: Diabetes could be especially difficult for females. The burden of diabetes on females is unique because the disease could affect both mothers and their unborn children.
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