Performance Evaluation of the Intensive Care Units in Hospitals Affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

 The Intensive care unit (ICU) in hospitals is known as the bottleneck of performance control where the compliance with standards is very important; to achieve quality management goals, the provided services must comply with the predetermined requirements. Hospital performance evaluation is needed for giving feedback on the efficiency of hospitals and effectiveness of services. This study aims to evaluate the performance of the ICUs in hospitals affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Iran during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

 This is a descriptive/analytical study that was conducted in 2021. The study samples were 19 ICUs in medical and teaching hospitals affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, which were selected by census method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. The content and face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed based on the opinions of a panel of experts and its construct validity was confirmed by the confirmatory factor analysis. Its reliability was reported 0.82 using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and its composite reliability was 0.91. Data analysis was performed by non-parametric tests of Wilcoxon, Friedman and Kruskal-Wallis in SPSS software, version 21 and Splus applications.

The highest level of compliance with the standards was in the area of management and leadership (4.74±0.93), followed by the areas of medical equipment (4.53±0.52), nursing processes (4.53±0.66), space, structure and facilities (4.47±0.39), safety (4.3±0.69), functioning (4.0±11.04) and manpower (4.19±0.42). The lowest level was related to the field of infection control with a mean score of 3.42±1.24. This difference in ranks between different areas was significant according to the results of Friedman test (P<0.05).

 The overall performance of the ICUs of study hospitals is favorable, but they need more attention and effort in the area of infection control. They are recommended to train and monitor the measures of infection control.