title: Health technology assessment: Off-site sterilization.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Every year millions of dollars are expended to equip and maintain the hospital sterilization centers, and our country is not an exception of this matter. According to this, it is important to use more effective technologies and methods in health system in order to reach more effectiveness and saving in costs. This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the technology of regional sterilization centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was done in four steps. At the first step, safety and effectiveness of technology was studied via systematic study of evidence. The next step was done to evaluate the economical aspect of off-site sterilization technology using gathered data from systematic review of the texts which were related to the technology and costs of off-site and in-site hospital sterilization. Third step was conducted to collect experiences of using technology in some selected hospitals around the world. And in the last step different aspects of acceptance and use of this technology in Iran were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Review of the selected articles indicated that efficacy and effectiveness of this technology is Confirmed. The results also showed that using this method is not economical in Iran.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the revealed evidences and also cost analysis, due to shortage of necessary substructures and economical aspect, installing the off-site sterilization health technology in hospitals is not possible currently. But this method can be used to provide sterilization services for clinics and outpatients centers.
authors.affiliation: PhD, Associate Professor, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. rdehnavi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dehnavieh
authors.affiliation: MSc Student, Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. na.mirshekari@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mirshekari
authors.affiliation: MSc Student, Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Sara.ghasemi8692@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghasemi
authors.affiliation: PhD, Assistant Professor, Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. reza0083@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goudarzi
authors.affiliation: PhD, Professor, Research Center for Modelling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. ahaghdoost@gmail.com.
authors.forename: AliAkbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haghdoost
authors.affiliation: PhD, Associate Professor, Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. mhmhealth@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossain
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Mehrolhassani
authors.affiliation: MSc Student, Research Center for Modelling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. zmoshkani@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Moshkani
authors.affiliation: PhD, Assistant Professor, Medical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. snhekmat@kmu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noori Hekmat
keywords: Health technology assessment; In-house sterilization; Off-site sterilization