Background and Objective: According to modern approaches to management, quality is defined as consumer’s requests. One of the first basic steps in improvement quality is recognizing consumers' perceptions and expectations. The aim of this study was to determine the quality gap in Primary Health Care services in Neyshabour Health Care centers following consumers' perceptions and expectations. Materials and Methods: This analytic-descriptive study (cross-sectional) was done in 2011 and it covered 400 females that referred to Neyshabour Health Care centers; the study population was selected with systematic random method. Data were gathered using a research questionnaire (SERVQUAL). The data were analyzed using SPSS softwares (ver. 16).Results: It was indicated that there was a quality gap in all dimensions. Overall quality gap was (-0.64) and the largest gap was in tangibility dimension (-0.68) and the smallest gap was observed in Empathy dimension (-0.59). There was significant relation between perceptions and expectations in all dimensions (p<0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that in all dimensions of quality, consumers' expectations are not granted.

Background & Aims: According to modern approaches to management, satisfactory quality must meet consumer’s requests. One of the first basic steps in improvement quality is recognizing consumers’ perceptions and expectation. The aim of this study was to determine the quality gap in Primary Health Care services in Urmia Health Care centers following consumers’ perceptions and expectations. Materials & Methods: This analytic-descriptive study (cross-sectional) covered 400 females that referred to Urmia Health Care centers the study population was selected with systematic random method. Data were gathered using a research questionnaire.Results: It was indicated that there was a quality gap in all dimensions. Overall quality gap is (-0.61) and the largest gap was in reliability dimension (-0.78) and the smallest gap was observed in tangibility dimension (-0.23). There was no significant relation between age and education level of consumers with quality gap (P>0.05).Conclusion: The results of this study show that there is a negative gap in most quality dimensions of Urmia Health system and consumers’ expectations are not granted.

Background and Aim: Considering the increasing prevalence of patients with dyspnea and the possibility of heart disease, as well as unavailability of echocardiography specially in Primary Care situations and unreliability of echocardiography findings in some diseases and finding NT-ProBNP as a diagnostic factor in heart failure in these patients, this study was done to determine the accuracy of NT-ProBNP in comparison to echocardiography in the diagnosis of heart failure in Modarress Hospital, in Tehran, between 2006 and 2007. Materials and Methods: This study, with a clinical trial diagnostic design, was performed on patients with chief complaint of dyspnea. The NT-ProBNP marker of serum was determined by Elecsys and patients were categorized according to age adjusted reference book values into two groups of with and without heart failure. Then, the patients underwent Simpson Echocardiography and Tissue Doppler; and the positive and negative predictive value for NT-ProBNP in relation to the echocardiography was determined and analyzed by statistical tests. Results: One hundred patients were analyzed. Mean age was 59±11.8 years and 70% were male. PPV was 84%, NPV was 70.4%, false positive was 16%, while false negative was 29.5%. Sensitivity was 78%, specificity 77%, and accuracy was equal to 78%. Conclusion: It seems that NT-ProBNP marker is a good test for screening patients with dyspnea and besides clinical criteria it has an acceptable diagnostic value. It would be good to perform other studies, using more precise laboratory methods and re-evaluation of cut point especially for Iranian patients considering factors other than age to obtain a rapid, easy, and cost-effective test in Primary Care.