Challenges of managing health centers during the Covid-19 pandemic

The readiness of health centers, especially hospitals for management challenges ahead, has a significant impact on reducing mortality in addition to physical and psychological damage due to the prevalence of viral or infectious diseases with high pandemic potential, including the COVID-19. Given the importance of this issue, this study aimed to identify the challenges of managing health centers and prioritizing them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this research, first, by reviewing the literature, text mining and, using the opinions of experts, we identified the main challenges of managing health centers. Then, the Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the main challenges. The Best Worst Method was used to determine the importance of each challenge, and the Fuzzy Cognitive Map Approach was used to determine the impact of each challenge on other challenges.

The 20 identified challenges were classified into three categories: human resource challenges, organizational challenges, and external challenges. Nine main challenges were identified among them. According to the results, inadequate physical space, restrictive rules and regulations, and manpower shortages were the most important challenges, respectively, and inadequate physical space was the most effective of the challenges.

Due to the importance of managing health care centers and the need for immediate action during this period, more specialized personnel response, empowerment of medical personnel, and correction of laws which act as obstacles can be useful tools for improving the management of these centers in the short term.