Designing a model of patient tracking system for natural disaster in Iran
نویسندگان
1 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan
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3 Health Information Management Department, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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doi
چکیده
CONTEXT: Disaster patient tracking consists of identifying and registering patients, recording dataon their medical conditions, settings priorities for evacuation of scene, locating the patients fromscene to health care centers and then till completion of treatment and discharge.AIM: The aim of this study was to design a model of patient tracking system for natural disaster in Iran.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This applied study was conducted in two steps in 2016. First, dataon disaster patient tracking systems used in selected countries were collected from library-printedand electronic references and then compared. Next, a preliminary model of disaster patient trackingsystem was provided using these systems and validated by Delphi technique and focus group. Thedata of the fi rst step were analyzed by content analysis and those of the second step by descriptivestatistics.RESULTS: Analysis of the comments of key information persons in three Delphi rounds, consistingof national experts, yielded three themes, i.e., content, function, and technology, ten subthemes,and 127 components, with consensus rate of over 75%, to provide a disaster patient tracking systemfor Iran.CONCLUSION: In Iran, there is no comprehensive process to manage the data on disaster patients.Offering a patient tracking system can be considered a humanitarian and effective measure to promotethe process of identifying, caring for, evacuating, and transferring patients as well as documentingand following up their medical and location conditions from scene till completion of the treatment.
