Journal of Medical Library and Information Science

The objective of developing the National Standard for Hospital Libraries (NSHL) is to present an efficient tool to replace scientific methods with traditional ones. The standards should be designed to be used as a comprehensive guide for librarians working in hospitals in various fields. Various standards are currently being developed for national, public, and academic libraries. Despite the activity of more than 200 educational and medical centers and a large number of public and private medical centers in Iran, there was no comprehensive standard that could meet this group of libraries' expectations. Therefore, the development of a standard for hospital libraries began based on national research. Finally, this standard was prepared in four chapters, including mission and organization, strategic planning, resources management, and service management. This standard was handed over to the Iranian National Standards Organization and the Deputy for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education to be available to users and stakeholders. The NSHL is a comprehensive guideline for establishing and developing hospital libraries and applies to all public and private hospital libraries, both.

Introduction: ResearchGate, as one of the academic-social networks, has become a platform for scientific cooperation to promote scientific skills. A large number of researchers engage in scientific activities and share research results. This paper aims to study the ResearchGate related researches and examines its opportunities and challenges for the academic communities.

Methods: The present research is a narrative-review. The study population includes English-language articles indexed in reputable databases such as Scopus and Web of Science and articles retrieved through Google Scholar published in reputable journals.

Results: Activity in ResearchGate enhances citation indexes more than ever. According to some studies and due to the importance of citation in universities' ranking, the use of the ResearchGate professional network can lead to improving the ranking of universities in international ranking systems. However, according to former studies, there are drawbacks to this network, and it is necessary for the scientific communities to use the benefits of this network consciously.

Conclusion: Familiarity with the opportunities and challenges of applying ResearchGate can provide relevant information to authorities to make informed decisions about using this social network in academic communities.

Introduction: Smart home supports the elderly to continue living in their own home using information and communication technology independently. This study aimed to survey technologies of smart home and their positive outcomes on the life quality of older people. 

Methods: This narrative review article was conducted in 2021 using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Sciences, and Science Direct Databases. After the final survey, 25 resources obtained the required validity based on the study aim. The studies without recording technologies of smart home and their positive outcomes were excluded. 

Results: In the literature review, 31 leading technologies for the smart home were identified. These technologies were classified into 11 groups. Also, 16 positive outcomes were identified due to applying these technologies in the smart home for older people. The essential outcomes are increasing awareness, sense of security and independence of the elderly, empowerment, and boosting self-confidence, strengthening communication among the older people, and reducing social isolation of them.

Conclusion: Due to the problems of aging in our country, identified groups of smart home technologies can be applied based on the needs of the elderly to enjoy the positive outcomes of these technologies to improve their quality of life.

Introduction: Health literacy is the capacity of individuals to obtain, process and understand information about basic health services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Inadequate health literacy is associated with a variety of adverse health consequences and inappropriate use of health care. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between patients' health literacy level and the cost of treatment among the elderly.

Methods: The present study was a descriptive-analytical study. The research sample was 1008 main pensioners of the Social Security Organization in Ahvaz. The research instruments were two questionnaires entitled Test Of Functional Health Literacy  in Adults (TOFHLA) and Health Services Utilization Questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software. Descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation) and analytical statistics (Pearson and Spearman correlation) with a significance level of 0.5 were used.

Results: The findings of this study showed that more than 80% of the participants have inadequate health literacy. The results also show the inverse and negative relationship between people's health literacy and the number of referrals to health centers and also its inverse relationship with treatment costs.

Conclusion: Improving the level of health literacy reduces the cost of treatment in the health system and also increases the level of welfare and health in individuals, and this is especially important in the elderly whose health needs are higher than ordinary people. To educate and promote health literacy, one must turn to social contact points with the elderly, including libraries and librarians.

Introduction: Libraries are considered to be an important link in the knowledge management chain at universities as the basis for gathering, processing, storing and distributing knowledge. So this research was done with the aim of investigating the knowledge management status in selected libraries of medical sciences universities in Tehran using the Beckowitz and William model.

Methods: in term of goals, this research is Applicability and was conducted in descriptive way and scrolling method. A questionnaire was used to collect information that its validity was estimated by experts and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha. The Research community consisted of 153 managers and librarians of central and faculty libraries of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences and Shahid-beheshtie University of Medical Sciences

Results: The results showed that the mean scores of knowledge management status in libraries of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were 144/85 and more than average.  Also between the components studied, the mean score for components of knowledge deployment, knowledge learning, knowledge sharing and knowledge removal were more than average, the knowledge creation / maintenance was average and knowledge assessment and finding knowledge were lower than average.

Conclusion: The findings showed that the knowledge management selected libraries status of medical sciences universities in Tehran was desirable. Therefore, according to past research and comparison with them, it can be concluded that knowledge management in mentioned libraries progressing.

Introduction: In a context of global mobility of skilled professionals, this is a comparative study of library science education and librarianship in the USA and Iran. The study attempts to determine how education and professional skills may transfer from one country to another. Historically, the USA and Iran are two different major centers of development of knowledge, science and technology, and culture. Each one of these two countries developed its system of general education and library science education and professional practice. This study investigates the definition of the librarian profession, historical perspectives, types of librarians and librarian-related positions, the initial academic training of librarian (schools, duration, curriculum, and accreditation), daily activities of librarians, continuing education, and opportunities and challenges of the profession in each country.

Methods: The qualitative research method was selected to conduct this study using benchmarking.

Results: This investigation led to a comparative analysis pointing out similarities and differences in this cope excluding medical library and information science. The comparative investigation of the LIS profession and education was conducted for the first time. The first part of this presented historical perspectives for library science education and librarianship. The second part of the paper demonstrated contemporary library science education and librarianship in each country. The last part contained a comparative critical discussion of both systems.

Conclusion: This concludes that, even though both systems are different, with the globalization of knowledge, education, and communications, under certain circumstances, one could consider a librarian “qualified” to practice across the border.

Introduction: The use of social media for marketing library services of academic libraries is growing day by day. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of social media in marketing services of libraries of Iran, Tehran and Shahid-Beheshti universities of medical sciences.

Methods: The study used a survey method. The questionnaire was used for data collection. The study population included all librarians working in the libraries of Iran, Tehran and Shahid-Beheshti universities of medical sciences with at least a bachelor's degree in librarianship. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyze the data by Spss24 software.

Results: The status of using social media for marketing library services in libraries of Iran, Tehran and Shahid-Beheshti universities of medical sciences, based on 4P marketing mix, was as follows: in price components (cost-benefit) with an average of 2.4, location (social media) with an average of 2.36, product (library services) with an average of 2.29, and promotion components with an average of 2.27. Their level of use in all four components was relatively unfavorable.

Conclusion: Due to the unfavorable level of using social media for marketing library services in these universities, it is necessary to encourage more effective planning to hold retraining and in-service courses in the areas of marketing, social media tools and content production in these media to encourage medical Librarians to know and use these tools in library services.

Introduction: Evidence-based nursing uses the best scientific evidence in clinical decision-making for the best care. The essential step in this process is to find evidence from databases.  However, there are many barriers to its implementation that need to be identified. The purpose of this study was to determine the barriers to using evidence-based databases and their relationship to contextual characteristics.

methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 214 nurses working in educational hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences participated in 2020. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analysed by SPPS software version 23. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and ANOVA were used for data analysis.

Results: Nurses' knowledge of evidence-based databases is average and low. The biggest is the weakness in formal and informal evidence-based nursing education. The results also showed that nurses with higher education (P-value = 0.002) and educational supervisors      (P-value = 0.015) and supervisors (P-value = 0.017) reported more barriers.

Conclusion:  It is recommended that the head of departments and policymakers in nursing education make general revisions to the content of the nursing curriculum for the evidence-based practice concepts point of view and provide necessary facilities for relevant training courses by workshops, congresses, etc.

Introduction: The information system of the intensive care unit has been designed and established in order to manage patients’ data and quickly retrieve patients’ information in this unit. This research was carried out to study the information system of the ICU and reporting capabilities in the hospitals affiliated with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU).

Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the study population included ICU information systems in seven hospitals that had the system in place. Data gathering tools were a questionnaire and a checklist. The content validity was performed to ensure the validity of the checklist and questionnaire. The test-retest method was used to determine the questionnaire reliability (r = 0.89). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: Data collection in the ICU information system in all hospitals understudy is done both in the form of paper forms and electronically. Regarding reporting capability,  patients’ demographic information reports, admission reports, discharge reports, transfers, diagnoses, mortality, and management reports, none of the studied hospitals, the automatic reporting capability scores (GCS), reporting patient safety indicators through alerts and reminders, reporting the cost of medications, reporting disease severity, including Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE), were not observed.

Conclusion: Implementing comprehensive and integrated ICU information systems can be an effective step towards organizing patient information and improving the quality of service provided to them. Therefore, the deployment of an ICU information system is necessary to improve care delivery in ICUs.

Introduction: The workload of studying library and information science (LIS) at undergraduates in Nigeria often accompanieschallenging sleeping habits. Hence, this study examined the influence of sleeping habits on the academic performance of LIS undergraduates in Nigeria.

Methods: The study adopts a mixed-methodsstrategy, using  concurrent triangulation. Data were collected using a Web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Interview sessions were carried out with twelve participants using the Zoom application, and a total of 291 LIS undergraduates completed the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the research questions and test hypotheses, respectively. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcribed interview report.

Results: It was revealed that most  LIS undergraduates (85.6%) had good sleep quality during the examination period compared to  no examination (14.1%). It was shown that there is a statistically significant effect of levels of study on students’ sleep duration (p-value = 0.02) and a statistically significant effect of types of institution on sleep quality (p-value = 0.03). The thematic analysisfound that sleep duration positively influences academic performance while sleep quality negatively influences academic performance.

Conclusion: It was established that LIS undergraduates have adequate sleep duration and sleep only when there is no examination. This implies that their sleep quality and duration are inadequate during the examination period, indicating that they do not have a healthy sleep habit. Moreover, it was established that sleep duration and sleep quality affect theacademic performance of LIS undergraduates.