Explaining the challenges of hospitals admitting COVID-19 patients from the perspective of managers (a qualitative study)

Crises are often unavoidable events that occur around the world. Hospitals play an important role in treating patients and preventing extensive injuries in times of crisis, requiring adequate preparedness. In order to design a proper planning system, it is essential to be aware of the challenges of hospitals during a crisis. The purpose of this study was to explain the challenges of hospitals admitting COVID‑19 patients in the city of Mashhad, Iran, from the perspective of their managers.

This study employed a qualitative approach, using the method of conventional content analysis and was conducted from May to July 2020. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit the senior managers of hospitals admitting COVID‑19 patients in Mashhad. The interviews were conducted face to face, with open‑ended questions following an interview guide based on semi‑structured questions, and continued until data saturation was reached. Data were analyzed using Atlas Ti software.

After the implementation of the interviews, first 665 initial codes were extracted from the data, and after removing the overlapping sequences, a total of 115 codes were obtained. Three categories (organizational challenges, extra organizational challenges, and challenges related to information domain), 13 sub‑categories, and 33 codes were extracted from the content analysis of the interviews. The main themes propounded in the field of challenges of COVID‑19 referral hospitals in Mashhad were organizational challenges, extra organizational challenges, and information domain challenges.

The results of this study showed that the hospitals admitting COVID‑19 patients in Mashhad faced many challenges. To improve the quality of services in postcrisis phase, replacing hospitals’ equipment, revising curriculums at medical universities, staff retraining, recruiting skilled human resources, and creating a supportive community context are necessary.

For sure, the COVID‑19 crisis will not be the last one, we have to be prepared for the bigger health crisis.