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A balanced scorecard (BSC) is an applied tool for implementing strategic management in various organizations. Implementing strategic management using the BSC approach has not received much attention in pharmacy departments. This study aims to provide a model for the strategic management of pharmacy departments using the BSC framework.

This experimental study was conducted from 2015 to 2018 in a 300-bed hospital and regional healthcare centers affiliated with the Petroleum Industry Health Organization in Tehran province, Iran. After carefully reviewing the organization's mission and vision, the strategic objectives were determined via the internal matrix and the external matrix (IE matrix), and the strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats matrix (SWOT matrix) were examined. Then, six BSC measures and interventions were identified, and each was examined from the perspectives of finance, patient satisfaction, internal processes and learning/growth. Finally, the proposed strategy was evaluated.

Results showed significant increases in patient satisfaction and gross profit. The observed increase range, from 0.09 to 0.29, indicates more effective operational management for optimal resource utilization. In addition, the pharmacy department was able to save US $539,137 by implementing prepared protocols for expensive medications. Similarly, the pharmacy department saved $442,899 during the two years of our strategic management plan by implementing the standard mechanism for returning unused medications to the pharmacy department after patients were discharged from various treatment units.

This study is among the first studies to demonstrate the simultaneous development, implementation and evaluation of the proposed strategy using the BSC in a pharmacy department in a public healthcare center. The BSC application improved the optimal use of resources and reduced costs while increasing patient satisfaction. It appears that the application of such an intervention may be as valuable to public pharmacies as it is to other private centers.

The epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) effect in diabetes has been investigated in animal studies, but results of clinical trials are inconsistent. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the effects of EGCG supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

A total of 50 patients with T2DM were recruited in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The eligible participants were randomly allocated to EGCG (n = 25) and placebo (n = 25) groups. The EGCG group received two capsules of EGCG (each capsule contained 150 mg; Shari Made®, Iran) and placebo group was administered two capsules of placebo (starch) for eight weeks. A three-day 24-h dietary recall and anthropometric and laboratory measurements were carried out at the beginning and the end of the study.

At the end of the trial, weight and body mass index (BMI) were decreased significantly in both groups, but the reduction was not statistically significant between the two groups. Fasting blood sugar decreased significantly in EGCG group. No significant between-group and within-group differences were found in insulin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index values. The high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was significantly reduced in the EGCG group (4.13 ± 0.48-3.93 ± 0.50, p = 0.003) compared to baseline.

This study showed that consuming 300 mg/day of EGCG for eight weeks in patients with T2DM caused a significant decrease in fasting blood glucose, body weight, BMI and hs-CRP compared to baseline. Therefore, the EGCG supplementation may improve glycemic control, anthropometric and inflammation status in T2DM.

The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate a tool to measure nurses’ knowledge of, attitude toward and practice regarding the elder abuse phenomenon.

This study is methodological research that was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the available tools related to knowledge, attitude and practice regarding elder abuse were identified through an extensive review of theoretical principles, previous research and related articles. The initial items were extracted and categorized. In the second stage, the psychometric properties of the tool were examined by assessing face validity, content validity, construct validity, internal consistency and stability. Four hundred nurses working in the hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were selected to determine the validity of the structure.

The initial tool consisted of 114 items extracted, 34 of which were removed according to the experts’ opinions. The face validity of the 80-item questionnaire was then examined. The number of the items was reduced to 74 after measuring the face validity. After the qualitative measurement of the content validity, three items were eliminated. After measuring the content validity using a quantitative approach, 8 other items were removed and 63 items remained. According to the content validity index, 1 more item was removed, reducing the number to 62. The construct validity approved three dimensions of knowledge, attitude and practice. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to be 0.84. The stability was also confirmed through test–retest with a value of 0.85 for the whole scale.

The tool developed for assessing nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding elder abuse has acceptable dependability and credibility. Given the advantages of this tool, including the simplicity and fluency of sentences, and the comprehensive evaluation of nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding elder abuse, it is recommended to use this tool in relevant future studies.

To respect the patients’ physical privacy, they should be provided with proper clothing that prevents the exposure of unnecessary parts of the body. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate patient satisfaction upon wearing customized, high-coverage, procedure-specific dresses.

New designs of clothing adapted for different kinds of procedures, and offering a good coverage of the body and easy access to the required parts were compared with regular patient clothing. Patients from six different wards of a university hospital filled out a questionnaire inquiring about general and demographic variables, and patient satisfaction was evaluated based on six main features of the clothing design. p<0.005 was considered as the level of statistical significance.

Overall, 256 patients were entered into the regular-design and new-design groups (n=128 in each). In Group 1 (regular design), the rate of dissatisfaction was about 98, 84, 84, 78, 77 and 38 percent for ease of wearing, comfort, design, material, coverage level and size, respectively. In Group 2 (new design), the highest satisfaction rates were associated with ease of wearing, size, coverage level, material, design and comfort as 93.7, 91.4, 89.9, 87.1, 86, and 80.5 percent, respectively.

The present study is the first to investigate customized patient clothing and demonstrated that these clothes can improve the patients’ satisfaction in terms of coverage, comfort, design and size.

This paper aims to investigation of processes for Pb²⁺ elimination from water/wastewater as a significant public health issue in many parts of world. The removal of Pb²⁺ ions by various nanocomposites has been explained from water/wastewaters. ZnO-based nanocomposites, as eco-friendly nanoparticles with unique physicochemical properties, have received increased attention to remove Pb²⁺ ions from water/wastewaters.

In this review, different ZnO-based nanocomposites were reviewed for their application in the removal of Pb²⁺ ions from the aqueous solution, typically for wastewater treatment using methodology, such as adsorption. This review focused on the ZnO-based nanocomposites for removing Pb²⁺ ions from water and wastewaters systems.

The ZnO-based nanocomposite was prepared by different methods, such as electrospinning, hydrothermal/alkali hydrothermal, direct precipitation and polymerization. Depending on the preparation method, various types of ZnO-based nanocomposites like ZnO-metal (Cu/ZnO, ZnO/ZnS, ZnO/Fe), ZnO-nonmetal (PVA/ZnO, Talc/ZnO) and ZnO-metal/nonmetal (ZnO/Na-Y zeolite) were obtained with different morphologies. The effects of operational parameters and adsorption mechanisms were discussed in the review.

The findings may be greatly useful in the application of the ZnO-based nanocomposite in the fields of organic and inorganic pollutants adsorption.

The present study is novel, because it investigated the morphological and structural properties of the synthesized ZnO-based nanocomposite using different methods and studied the capability of green-synthesized ZnO-based nanocomposite to remove Pb²⁺ ions as water contaminants.

The current review can be used for the development of environmental pollution control measures.

This paper reviews the rapidly developing field of nanocomposite technology.

The purpose of this paper is to assess eight weeks individualized balanced low-calorie diet on anthropometric measurements and body composition in apparently healthy obese women.

Forty apparently healthy obese women (body mass index: 27.5-40 kg/m² and age: 18-40 years) were recruited from the nutrition clinic in the north-west of Iran, Ardabil city. Anthropometric measurements and body composition analysis were done at baseline and after the intervention.

During eight weeks, individualized balanced low-calorie diet resulted in a significant decrease in body weight (−4.0 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.001), body mass index (−1.6 ± 0.1 kg/m², p < 0.001), waist circumference (−2.9 ± 0.3 cm, p < 0.001), waist-to-hip ratio (−0.01 ± 0.004, p = 0.001), waist-to-height ratio (−0.02 ± 0.002, p < 0.001), per cent body fat (−1.1 ± 0.2 per cent, p < 0.001), fat mass (−2.5 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.001), visceral fat level (−0.8 ± 0.1, p < 0.001), visceral fat area (−11.3 ± 2.3 cm², p < 0.001), trunk mass fat (−1.2 ± 0.1 kg, p < 0.001), left arm mass fat (−0.2 ± 0.03 kg, p < 0.001), right arm mass fat (−0.2 ± 0.03 kg, p < 0.001), left leg mass fat (−0.4 ± 0.1 kg, p < 0.001), right leg mass fat (−0.4 ± 0.05 kg, p < 0.001), abdominal volume index (−1.1 ± 0.1 m², p < 0.001), conicity index (−0.007 ± 0.002 m^2/3/kg^1/2, p = 0.001) and body adiposity index (1.0 ± 0.1 per cent, p < 0.001).

The limitation concerns the generalizability to the general population of obese women. Future studies should take sex differences into consideration. These studies may focus on the long-term benefits.

Balanced low-calorie diet-induced moderate weight loss alone may represent an effective strategy for reducing metabolic risk factors among obese women.

The extremely competitive and globalized business environment directs organizations to rely on human capital to be innovative. Committed employees are needed for organizations to foster innovative behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between three forms of commitment and employees’ innovative behavior.

Adopted questionnaire from previous studies were distributed among employees of Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises. A total of 219 questionnaires were analyzed via partial least square.

Statistical results revealed significant relationships between affective and normative commitment and employees’ innovative behavior.

This study offers a theoretical contribution by adding an insight into the relationship between commitment and innovative behavior. The study also provides a practical guideline for managers of Malaysian SMEs who aim to increase innovative behavior among employees by considering their level of commitment.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors that impact knowledge sharing (KS) and their importance in technology-intensive service organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

An extensive literature review was conducted to identify the critical factors for KS in technology-intensive organizations. Then, an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was applied to prioritize the primary criteria and sub-criteria. This study consists of nine primary criteria and 34 sub-criteria that are relevant to KS in technology-intensive organizations.

The results show that organizational leadership (OL) is the most important factor that impacts KS in technology-intensive organizations, which is followed by organizational culture (OC), organizational strategy (OSY), corporate performance (CP), organizational process (OP), employee engagement (EE) and organizational structure (OST). According to the results, the least impactful factor is human resource management (HRM).

Because the results in this study were only obtained from service organizations, future studies can include manufacturing organizations from different countries and additional success factors. Future studies could also use structural equational modelling methodology for better understanding the relations among these critical factors for KS.

This paper is one of the first in the UAE to examine the broad range of critical success factors for KS in technology-intensive organizations.