Nowadays, increasing extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria have become a global concern because of inducing resistance toward most of the antimicrobial classes and making the treatment difficult. In order to achieve an appropriate treatment option, identification of the prevalent species which generate ESBL as well as their antibiotic susceptibility pattern is essential worldwide. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria and assess their drug susceptibility in Fardis Town, Iran. A total of 21,604 urine samples collected from patients suspected to have urinary tract infection (UTI) were processed in the current study. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was tested by the disk diffusion method. The ESBL producing bacteria were determined by Double Disc Synergy Test (DDST) procedure. Bacterial growth was detected in 1408 (6.52%) cases. The most common bacterial strains causing UTI were found E. coli (72.16%), followed by K. pneumoniae (10.3%) and S. agalactiae (5.7%). Overall, 398 (28.26%) were ESBL producer. The highest ESBL production was observed in E. coli, followed by Klebsiella species. ESBL producers revealed a higher level of antibiotic resistance compared with non-ESBLs. In conclusion, ESBL production in uropathogens was relatively high. Carbapenems and Aminoglycosides were confirmed as the most effective treatment options for these bacteria.

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Background From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of infrastructures to record, collect and report COVID-19‏ ‏data has become a fundamental necessity in the world. The disease registry system can help build an infrastructure to collect data systematically. The study aimed to design a minimum data set for the COVID-19 registry system. Methods A qualitative study to design an MDS for the COVID-19 registry system was performed in five phases at Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran, 2020–2021. In the first phase, assessing the information requirements was performed for the COVID-19 registry system. Data elements were identified in the second phase. In the third phase, the MDS was selected, and in the four phases, the COVID-19 registry system was implemented as a pilot study to test the MDS. Finally, based on the experiences gained from the COVID-19 registry system implementation, the MDS were evaluated, and corrections were made. Results MDS of the COVID-19 registry system contains eight top groups including administrative (34 data elements), disease exposure (61 data elements), medical history and physical examination (138 data elements), findings of clinical diagnostic tests (101 data elements), disease progress and outcome of treatment (55 data elements), medical diagnosis and cause of death (12 data elements), follow-up (14 data elements), and COVID-19 vaccination (19 data elements) data, respectively. Conclusion Creating a standard and comprehensive MDS can help to design any national data dictionary for COVID-19 and improve the quality of COVID-19 data.

Initially, TAM was developed by Davis et al. (1989) (10) in order to understand the process of accepting and adopting information technology. The model, in which Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Attitude, and Usage were the main components,

BackgroundIn recent years, hospitals in Iran – similar to those in other countries – have experienced growing use of computerized health information systems (CHISs), which play a significant role in the operations of hospitals. But, the major challenge of CHIS use is information security. This study attempts to evaluate CHIS information security risk management at hospitals of Iran.Materials and methodsThis applied study is a descriptive and cross-sectional research that has been conducted in 2015. The data were collected from 551 hospitals of Iran. Based on literature review, experts’ opinion, and observations at five hospitals, our intensive questionnaire was designed to assess security risk management for CHISs at the concerned hospitals, which was then sent to all hospitals in Iran by the Ministry of Health.ResultsSixty-nine percent of the studied hospitals pursue information security policies and procedures in conformity with Iran Hospitals Accreditation Standards. At some hospitals, risk identification, risk evaluation, and risk estimation, as well as risk treatment, are unstructured without any specified approach or methodology. There is no significant structured approach to risk management at the studied hospitals.ConclusionInformation security risk management is not followed by Iran’s hospitals and their information security policies. This problem can cause a large number of challenges for their CHIS security in future. Therefore, Iran’s Ministry of Health should develop practical policies to improve information security risk management in the hospitals of Iran.

Background:Standardized data collection supports disease information management and leads to better quality of care. The Islamic Republic of Iran lacks a standard data set for data collection in hospitals. Aims: The aim of this study was to design a minimum data set for hospital information systems in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Methods: This study was conducted in 2015. Data sets of other countries, hospital records, hospital information systems and electronic health record systems in the Islamic Republic of Iran were reviewed for data elements for the minimum data set. Data elements were collected using a data extraction form and were categorized into similar classes, which were divided into administrative and clinical sections. The list of data elements was reviewed by experts in technical offices of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and a minimum data set was drawn up. Results: There were nine and 18 data classes in the administrative and clinical sections with a total of 166 and 684 data elements respectively. After review by the expert panel, 159 administrative and 621 clinical data elements were retained as the minimum data set for the Iranian hospital information system. Conclusion: Our dataset can be used by the Iranian health ministry, hospital information system companies and health surveillance centres for more efficient management of health data. Citation: Rampisheh Z; Kameli M; Zarei J; Vahedi Barzaki A; Meraji M; Mohammadi A. Developing a national minimum data set for hospital information systems in the Islamic Republic of Iran. East Mediterr Health J. 2020;26(4):400-409. https://doi.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of hospital-acquired infection due to its high antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation ability. P. aeruginosa produces elastase lasB during biofilm formation, which can influence properties of biofilm. This study was carried out to evaluate the antibiotic resistance and distribution of the lasB gene among biofilm-producing P. aeruginosa strains isolated from burn patients. Methods: A total of 128 clinical samples were collected from burn patients. The P. aeruginosa isolates were identified using standard bacteriological procedures. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed by the disk diffusion method. Biofilm formation was measured by microtiter plate assay. The presence of lasB gene was detected by PCR. Results: A total of 75 samples were positive for P. aeruginosa. A high rate of resistance was seen against ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, and piperacillin/tazobactam. Biofilm formation was seen in 57.3% of the isolates and the prevalence of the lasB gene was 85.3%. Biofilm formation in isolates without lasB was lower and these isolates were more sensitive to imipenem and piperacillin/tazobactam. Conclusions: In the present study, we did not find a statistically significant relationship among elastase gene (lasB) presence, antibiotic resistance, and biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa strains isolated from burn patients.