The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Performance and Efficiency of Selected Military Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study

The covid-19 pandemic was very impressive on the performance and efficiency of all healthcare centers. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the covid-19 epidemic on the performance and efficiency of the hospitals of the police by the Pabon Lasso model.

This applied study is descriptive-analytical. This study was conducted in four non-specialized military hospitals using data from 2019 to 2021 in military hospitals in the cities of Tehran, Mashhad, and Kerman in Iran. The data relating to the functional indicators of bed occupancy percentage, average patient stay, and bed turnover rate were collected by referring to the medical records units of the hospitals. After comparing the standards of the Ministry of Health, the Pabon Lasso model was used to measure the performance. SPSS 22 software and paired t-tests were used to perform statistical analysis.

The study's general results showed that the average bed occupancy rate and bed turnover in all hospitals before the covid-19 pandemic were 75% and 73%, respectively, which were higher than national standard and in favorable condition. Although after the pandemic of covid-19, the average occupancy of hospital beds and the length of stay of patients were 70% and 3.8 days, respectively, which were in poor condition and less than the national standard, and the results indicated a significant effect of the pandemic on hospital indicators (p<0.05). Also, the results of examining the efficiency of hospitals using the Pabon Lasso model showed that two hospitals were in the efficient performance area before the pandemic. However, after the pandemic, all hospitals were in inefficient areas.

The Covid-19 pandemic harmed the performance and efficiency indicators of hospitals. Therefore, planning to improve performance indicators and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of hospital activities should be at the top of the plans.