How well prepared are hospitals for future crises? Board members perceive their hospitals as resilient for acute crises.
BMC Health Serv Res
; 24(1): 817, 2024 Jul 16.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39014429
ABSTRACT
Resilience is an organizational capacity in day-to-day practice and crisis situation performance. A one of a kind crisis for hospitals is the COVID-19 pandemic. The long duration and magnitude of this crisis offers the opportunity to gain insight into the complexity of crisis management and organizational resilience of hospitals. This interview study therefore explored the organizational resilience of Dutch hospitals during the first 14 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine board members of nine Dutch hospitals were interviewed by means of a semi-structured interview that was built on thirteen indicators of organizational resilience. The results showed that board members considered their hospitals as resilient on almost all indicators. Their judgments varied about how prepared and ready for future crises they considered their hospital. According to board members, hospitals are mainly prepared for "acute" short-term crises, thanks to good crisis leadership, open communication and strong networks. A crisis as long as the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented and therefore more difficult to deal with. In between the infection waves, work processes were reflected upon to learn, anticipate and respond more smoothly to successive waves. However, the enduring nature of the COVD-19 crisis presented complex organizational challenges. Crisis operations were eventually scaled down and hospitals had to manage the crisis and regular care as two companies side by side. Each crisis manifests differently. Fostering trust in healthcare staff and allowing them to act autonomously during crises, while diligently monitoring external influences and potential future crises, are therefore paramount in developing organizational adaptive capacities.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Pandemias
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Health Serv Res
Asunto de la revista:
PESQUISA EM SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Países Bajos
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido