Background: Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSSs) for Prescribing are one of the innovations designed to improve physician practice performance and patient outcomes by reducing prescription errors. This study was therefore conducted to examine the effects of various CDSSs on physician practice performance and patient outcomes.Methods: This systematic review was carried out by searching PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library from 2005 to 2019. The studies were independently reviewed by two researchers. Any discrepancies in the eligibility of the studies between the two researchers were then resolved by consulting the third researcher. In the next step, we performed a meta-analysis based on medication subgroups, CDSS-type subgroups, and outcome categories. Also, we provided the narrative style of the findings. In the meantime, we used a random-effects model to estimate the effects of CDSS on patient outcomes and physician practice performance with a 95% confidence interval. Q statistics and I²were then used to calculate heterogeneity.Results: On the basis of the inclusion criteria, 45 studies were qualified for analysis in this study. CDSS for prescription drugs/COPE has been used for various diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases, AIDS, appendicitis, kidney disease, malaria, high blood potassium, and mental diseases. In the meantime, other cases such as concurrent prescribing of multiple medications for patients and their effects on the above-mentioned results have been analyzed. The study shows that in some cases the use of CDSS has beneficial effects on patient outcomes and physician practice performance (std diff in means = 0.084, 95% CI 0.067 to 0.102). It was also statistically significant for outcome categories such as those demonstrating better results for physician practice performance and patient outcomes or both. However, there was no significant difference between some other cases and traditional approaches. We assume that this may be due to the disease type, the quantity, and the type of CDSS criteria that affected the comparison. Overall, the results of this study show positive effects on performance for all forms of CDSSs.Conclusions: Our results indicate that the positive effects of the CDSS can be due to factors such as user-friendliness, compliance with clinical guidelines, patient and physician cooperation, integration of electronic health records, CDSS, and pharmaceutical systems, consideration of the views of physicians in assessing the importance of CDSS alerts, and the real-time alerts in the prescription.

Background: The “Coronavirus Disease 2019” (COVID-19) pandemic has become a major challenge for all healthcare systems worldwide, and besides generating a high toll of deaths, it has caused economic losses. Hospitals have played a key role in providing services to patients and the volume of hospital activities has been refocused on COVID-19 patients. Other activities have been limited/repurposed or even suspended and hospitals have been operating with reduced capacity. With the decrease in non-COVID-19 activities, their financial system and sustainability have been threatened, with hospitals facing shortage of financial resources. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on the revenues of public hospitals in Lorestan province in western Iran, as a case study. Method: In this quasi-experimental study, we conducted the interrupted time series analysis to evaluate COVID-19 induced changes in monthly revenues of 18 public hospitals, from April 2018 to August 2021, in Lorestan, Iran. In doing so, public hospitals report their earnings to the University of Medical Sciences monthly; then, we collected this data through the finance office. Results: Due to COVID-19, the revenues of public hospitals experienced an average monthly decrease of $172,636 thousand (P-value = 0.01232). For about 13 months, the trend of declining hospital revenues continued. However, after February 2021, a relatively stable increase could be observed, with patient admission and elective surgeries restrictions being lifted. The average monthly income of hospitals increased by $83,574 thousand. Conclusion: COVID-19 has reduced the revenues of public hospitals, which have faced many problems due to the high costs they have incurred. During the crisis, lack of adequate fundings can damage healthcare service delivery, and policymakers should allocate resources to prevent potential shocks.

The perceived language barrier in English is said to hinder, and in certain instances, impede the global dissemination of knowledge, including medical information, to non-native English speakers within medical institutions. As English for medical purposes instructors, we contend that the issue persists in medical universities across various EFL contexts. Medical students face the challenge of presenting their research findings in English for international journals and conferences. Given this, the present research study aimed to compile a comprehensive catalog of high-frequency errors and examine them in recurring linguistic patterns commonly found in the writing of Iranian medical students. In conducting the present study, we developed a learner corpus of 1,040 essays (339,040 words and 18,235 sentences in total). Through using the results obtained from Wordsmith Tools 8 and sifting the leaner corpus, we identified 11 high-frequency errors and five commonly used linguistic patterns. Only five out of 11 high-frequency errors account for 61% of the total number of errors. Results also showed that a majority of errors were of grammatical nature. In this regard, cohesion and cohesive devices (16%) were the most prevalent errors followed by omission/misusing of articles/determiners (14%). Additionally, results showed that discourse markers were extensively used in the corpus (22.07%), followed by hedges (11.42%). The outcomes of this study are expected to assist English for medical purposes instructors in designing focused lesson plans and classroom activities. Ultimately, these efforts might contribute to enhancing medical education in non-English speaking universities.

Introduction: The Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud computing are two recent technological advances whose potential have not been realized in a range of industries. These technologies have been used in healthcare systems to improve their performance. In this regard, the IoT generates a large amount of data; also, cloud computing is a viable option for data storage and complex computing. The purpose of this study is to identify and categorize various aspects of CIoT-based healthcare in terms of main application domains, sensors, wireless communication technologies, messaging protocols, cloud platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.Material and Methods: We conducted a literature systematic review and reported according to the PRISMA guideline. PubMed, IEEE, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched using the related keywords and their synonyms. Two independent authors reviewed the papers' eligibility according to the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: Of the 2,118 papers retrieved, 61 were eventually selected in the study. Results of the present study revealed that the majority of CIoT research works were applied to patient monitoring systems and cardiovascular patient monitoring systems using Amazon and IBM dominating Cloud platforms. In addition, the most widely used communication technologies for CIoT in healthcare are cellular networks (3G and 4G), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Cardiovascular, environmental, and position sensors are also the most common types of sensors used in healthcare CIoT applications. Among the Cloud platform providers, Amazon and IBM have the highest utility in healthcare systems. The majority of the included studies used Cloud-based AI algorithms to diagnose, classify, and predict diseases.Conclusion: The integration of the Cloud into the IoT can support healthcare systems in terms of processing power, storage capacity, security, privacy, performance, reliability, and scalability. We suggest researchers conduct experimental studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the CIoT approach in healthcare applications.

Objectives: In physical reality, mobility limitations often hinder the ability of older individuals to fully interact with the world. Aging increases the likelihood of a decline in social activities. New technologies, including immersion technologies, are increasingly gaining attention as society grapples with the challenges of an aging population. The metaverse offers a compelling opportunity to reimagine the perspective of empowering older individuals.Methods: A systematic review was conducted on the PubMed, IEEE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases in December 2024 using a search strategy composed of the keywords “elderly,” “metaverse,” “augmented reality” and “virtual reality,” along with their synonyms in the titles of the articles. Descriptive, qualitative, review, and non‐English studies were excluded. The quality assessment of the articles and their bias evaluation were performed based on the JBI index and PRISMA guidelines.Results: The search yielded 1153 articles, 37 of which met the study entry conditions. Thirty studies utilized virtual reality technology for the rehabilitation of elderly people. Most studies aimed to improve symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, physical activity, and cognitive impairment. Seven studies focused on the design and use of immersive technologies to improve Parkinson's symptoms and motor impairments resulting from strokes. Four studies focused on designing environments and games that could help elderly people engage in physical activity and exercise using immersive technologies. The quality of life of elderly people improved in line with the use of these technologies, and symptom weakness improved.Conclusions: The metaverse can serve as a comprehensive and supportive platform for elderly people. The development of various digital applications or applications covering health, banking, financial affairs, shopping, and social media for performing daily activities from home via an online mode can assist elderly people. The metaverse offers innovative solutions to inspire and support elderly people in staying active. VR and AR technologies provide a dynamic platform for participation in exercise programs, recreational activities, and personalized health programs for elderly people.

Objective: Hajj is among the oldest pilgrimages in the world, there is a limited study that evaluates the epidemiological pattern of Diabetes Mellitus [1] and the medical care required and provided to pilgrims. The present study assessed the prevalence and pattern of DM in Iranian pilgrims from 2012–22. Method: All demographic information, risk factors, and the prevalence of DM were extracted from the database and medical records of the Hajj Pilgrimage Medical Centre, Iranian Red Crescent Society through file reading. Also, to investigate the effect of the risk factors considered in the study, the multiple logistic regression model was used. Results: The present study included data from 469,581 Hajj pilgrims. Most pilgrims were in the age group of 45 to 70 years (73.25%). The prevalence of diabetes in patients over 70 years old was the highest (16.73%). The prevalence of DM was estimated at 14.64% in women and 12.51% in men. The lowest DM prevalence was in Lorestan (7.81%), North Khorasan (9.07%), Sistan and Baluchistan (9.29%), and Hamedan (9.41), respectively. The highest prevalence rate was in Khuzestan (20.12%), Yazd (19.14), and Mazandaran (17.55), respectively. Our analysis reveals that, for instance, with each yearly increase in the age of the pilgrims (assuming other variables remain constant), the odds of having DM increase by 0.04. For the gender, the odds of having DM among women is 0.33 higher than among men, when the other variable is constant. Conclusions: The study results show a significant difference in the prevalence of diabetes in age, gender, and distribution in different provinces. Therefore, appropriate screening, diagnosis, and management by primary care physicians are necessary to prevent adverse health outcomes and reduce the economic burden of mortality and morbidity.