Prioritizing research needs: insights from a healthcare organization in Iran

Objectives: The goal of this study was to identify the priority of research needs in a healthcare organization in Iran, based on identification of the problems faced by patients, as the main recipients of healthcare services. Method: A cross -sectional descriptive study was planned to achieve the objectives of study. The service recipients sample consisted of 400 patients. Given the necessity to gain in-depth insights of the subject matter, a qualitative research design was chosen. A number of 50 interviews were conducted with individuals from among 400 patients. The data was analyzed using ATLAS.ti softwarePrioritizing of the topics was done using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the Expert Choice software. Results: Based on the issues extracted from the interviews and discourses, 13 research topics were proposed by experts. Among these, the topics “designing the model of premium and complementary franchise payment, proportional to the income, access and enjoyment”, “designing the dental services package with specific premium in three basic, complementary and optional levels” and “Presenting the model of disease prevention in healthcare organizations” acquired the highest priority ranked 1 to 3 and earning the scores of 0.63, 0.61 and 0.41, respectively. Conclusion: Because resources are limited and needs are unlimited, in order to avoid wasting research resources in healthcare organizations, allocating the resources must be based on the extracted priorities; and this is vital to fulfill the organizational objectives.