Performance of Selected COVID-19 Centers in the Primary Health Care System during COVID-19 Pandemics in Iran

In order to respond the people in the COVID-19 crisis, a number of comprehensive urban health centers in the primary health care system converted to the selected COVID-19 centers in 2020. Considering the importance of evaluating the performance of the mentioned centers and ensuring the continuity of the services provided in accordance with the rules and instructions, the performance evaluation of the mentioned units began from July 2020 to march 2021 in three levels: self-evaluation (first level evaluation), university evaluation (second level evaluation) and the evaluation of the experts of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (third level evaluation).

A cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted in all selected COVID-19 centers including 978 in all 63 universities / medical schools across the country in 2020. The sample was selected by census sampling method and includes a total of 978 centers. In this study, 28 main criteria in the fields of education and information, staff and client safety by observing social distance and using personal protective equipment, supplying manpower, equipment, disinfection and work processes and 91 sub-criteria were determined by using Delphi Technique.

With the criteria and sub-criteria defined in the areas of "education and information of the people", staff training, observance of social distance, facilities, waste management, manpower supply, supply of medical equipments and work processes , it was identified that in the self-evaluation ( first level evaluation), the criterion with the lowest score was "staff training". The lowest score in the evaluation of the level of universities / medical schools (second level evaluation) was related to the observance of social distance in the centers and the highest score in both evaluation levels was related to the criterion of "providing necessary education to patients regarding prevention and control of COVID-19".

Establishment and setting up of selected COVID-19 centers has been one of the effective measures in controlling and managing COVID-19, which was created as a result of changing the structure of the primary health care system. Continuity of service quality of selected centers requires continuous monitoring and evaluation of their performance.