Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Garmsar University, Garmsar, Iran; E-mail: sm.hosseini@fmgarmsar.ac.ir

2 Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Management and Industrial Engineering, Malek-Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

3 MSc, Industrial Management, Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management, Islamic Azad University-Tehran North Branch, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: With the prevalence of COVID-19 in the world and the sharp increase in deaths due to it, hospitals are in dire need of changing their situation and raising their preparedness in the face of the crisis. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to prioritize the factors related to the readiness of hospitals against COVID-19.

Methods: In this descriptive-survey study, first, by reviewing the literature, factors related to hospital readiness were extracted. Then, in order to validate these factors and reach the consensus of the expert group (40 physicians and nurses involved in the front line of the corona), the Delphi method was used. Finally, the identified indicators were ranked and prioritized using the SWARA (Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) technique.

Results: The literature review and Delphi method led to the identification of 18 indicators related to hospital readiness, the most important of which were the number of staff, medical equipment, education and work experience, emergency network and manpower readiness, respectively.

Conclusion: Considering the severe vulnerability of hospitals to possible corona peaks, based on the results of this study, the condition of hospitals can be evaluated from five perspectives: hospital building, medical equipment, communication equipment, transportation and personnel, and necessary measures should be taken to eliminate their shortcomings.

Keywords

Main Subjects

  1. May G. Disaster readiness for ES departments. Health Facil Manage. 2013; 26(3):32.
  2. Singhal T. A review of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). indian J Pediatr. 2020; 87(4):281–6.
  3. Tarricone R, Rognoni C. What can health systems learn from COVID-19? Eur Hear J Suppl. 2020; 22 (Supplement_P):P4–8.
  4. Gul M, Yucesan M. Hospital preparedness assessment against COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in Turkish tertiary healthcare services. Math Probl Eng. 2021; 2021.
  5. Zaboli R, Sajadi HS. Assessing hospital disaster preparedness in Tehran: Lessons learned on disaster and mass casualty management system. Int J Heal Syst Disaster Manag. 2014; 2(4):220.
  6. Organization WH. Safe hospitals in emergencies and disasters: structural, non-structural and functional indicators. Manila: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific; 2010.
  7. Shah AA, Abid M, Ye J. An Assessment of Primary Health Care Facilities and Their Preparedness Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). In: Public Health and Disasters. Springer; 2020. p. 245–64.
  8. Ortiz-Barrios M, Gul M, López-Meza P, Yucesan M, Navarro-Jiménez E. Evaluation of hospital disaster preparedness by a multi-criteria decision making approach: The case of Turkish hospitals. Int J disaster risk Reduct. 2020; 49:101748.
  9. Moheimani A, Sheikh R, Hosseini SMH, Sana SS. Assessing the preparedness of hospitals facing disasters using the rough set theory: guidelines for more preparedness to cope with the COVID-19. Int J Syst Sci Oper Logist. 2021; 1–16.
  10. Zolfani SH, Aghdaie MH, Derakhti A, Zavadskas EK, Varzandeh MHM. Decision making on business issues with foresight perspective; an application of new hybrid MCDM model in shopping mall locating. Expert Syst Appl. 2013; 40(17):7111–21.
  11. Alimardani M, Hashemkhani Zolfani S, Aghdaie MH, Tamošaitienė J. A novel hybrid SWARA and VIKOR methodology for supplier selection in an agile environment. Technol Econ Dev Econ. 2013; 19(3):533–48.
  12. Agarwal S, Kant R, Shankar R. Evaluating solutions to overcome humanitarian supply chain management barriers: a hybrid fuzzy SWARA–Fuzzy WASPAS approach. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct. 2020; 51: 101838.
  13. Rehman S, Rehman N, Naz M, Mumtaz A, Jianglin Z. Application of Grey-Based SWARA and COPRAS Techniques in Disease Mortality Risk Assessment. J Healthc Eng. 2021; 2021.
  14. Eghbali-Zarch M, Tavakkoli-Moghaddam R, Esfahanian F, Sepehri MM, Azaron A. Pharmacological therapy selection of type 2 diabetes based on the SWARA and modified MULTIMOORA methods under a fuzzy environment. Artif Intell Med. 2018; 87:20–33.
  15. Keršuliene V, Zavadskas EK, Turskis Z. Selection of rational dispute resolution method by applying new step‐wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA). J Bus Econ Manag. 2010; 11(2):243–
  16. Mulyasari F, Inoue S, Prashar S, Isayama K, Basu M, and Srivastava N, et al. Disaster preparedness: looking through the lens of hospitals in Japan. Int J Disaster Risk Sci. 2013; 4(2):89–100.
  17. Hosseini SM, Bahadori M, Raadabadi M, Ravangard R. Ranking hospitals based on the disasters preparedness using the TOPSIS technique in western Iran. Hosp Top. 2019; 97(1):23–31.
  18. Hatami H, Neisi A, Kooti M. Functional, structural and non-structural preparedness of Ahvaz health centers against disasters in 2014–2015. Jundishapur J Heal Sci. 2017; 9(1):e66561.
  19. Zhong S, Clark M, Hou X-Y, Zang Y, FitzGerald G. Development of key indicators of hospital resilience: a modified Delphi study. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2015; 20(2):74–82.
  20. Son H, Lee WJ, Kim HS, Lee KS, You M. Examination of hospital workers’ emotional responses to an infectious disease outbreak: lessons from the 2015 MERS Co-V Outbreak in South Korea. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2019; 13(3):504–10.
  21. Dargahi A, Farrokhi M, Poursadeghiyan M, Ahagh MMH, Karami A. Evaluation of functional preparedness and non structural safety of different health units of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in coping with natural disasters. Heal Emergencies Disasters. 2017; 2(4):201–6.