Organizational approaches to implement rapid change in hospitals to respond to public health emergencies
Year: 2021
Type: editorial
Abstract: Organizational approaches to implement rapid change in hospitals to respond to public health emergenciesThe COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the need for crisis preparedness among public health systems worldwide.Securing both human and financial resources to improve standards of health care remains a global priority (1-4).Yet, efforts to improve preparedness lack the necessary frameworks to develop and sustain improvements in health care systems' processes and outcomes (5,6).The sudden and far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted scientists to develop frameworks that aim to adequately prepare hospitals and other health service delivery systems for surges in demand for care.A report on the operational readiness of nations on several indicators of preparedness found that only 57% of 182 countries had the functional capacity to execute crucial emergency-related activities (7).Elements of health care systems that have been implicated in low levels of preparedness have varied, ranging from supply chain failures, workforce shortages, organizational readiness for change, and resource constraints, among others (8,9).The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly impacted these elements.With decades of organizational research on the adoption and implementation of innovative practices, system and organizational scientists are poised to help health care organizations respond to the need for technical, financial, and cultural resources to effectively address public health crises (10-12).In this special issue, we embarked on an exploration of health care systems' capacity to respond to increasing public health challenges, to meet the global imperative for more efficient and effective crisis preparedness infrastructure.This special issue on "organizational approaches to implement rapid change in hospitals to respond to public health emergencies" presents conceptual and empirical papers on various approaches that hospitals and other health care organizations could implement to counteract current (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic), ongoing (e.g., HIV, opioid overdose) and emerging epidemics that will impact global health.The purpose of this special issue is to advance Systems, as well as Organizations and Implementation Sciences by developing and testing frameworks that lead to a highly responsive and effective public health system.These interdisciplinary sciences focus on simple to complex systems, and implementation methods that lead to the integration of evidence-based practices.These interventions and resulting policies must necessarily be translated into routine practice in health care organizations.The papers included in this series use different levels of analysis (i.e., individual, group, organization or system) and are informed by different disciplinary frameworks.Despite these differences, all of these papers share a focus on implementing innovation and improving readiness among hospitals and allied health providers to effectively respond to public health emergencies.There are four papers in this series that represent some of the core functions and challenges of hospital response to COVID-19.The first paper in the series explores how the concept of organizational slack applies to hospital system responsiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic.Drs.McHugh and Cross (13) focus on hospitals that had higher capacity to effectively respond to the pandemic.Relying on the organizational slack literature, the authors describe a conceptual model based on using social capital and financial health to effectively respond to COVID-19.Innovation and operational flexibility are proposed as key areas that afford healthcare organizations the ability to adapt in response to imminent change (McHugh and Cross, 2021).To effectively respond to COVID-19, hospitals need to have strong teams with effective crisis management practices.Drs.Porter, Rathert, Ayad, and Messina are the authors of the second paper.In this paper, the authors use the One-Team approach to crisis management in an hospital setting and highlight the success story during the COVID-19 pandemic (14).They report that financial decline precipitated by COVID-19 pressured hospitals to both shrink their workforce and at the same time strengthen their teams at different levels to respond to the public health crisis.Drawing from social identity theory, the authors focus on the importance of conceptualizing and operationalizing organizational level team.They offer an organizational exemplar, the Cleveland Clinic, which used teams effectively to reduce negative organizational consequences to their workforce and regular practices.In the third paper of the series, Drs.Muskopf, Sudan, Verdooner, and Nair advance understanding of the role of
Authors: Erick Guerrero, Jemima A. Frimpong
Institution: New York University Abu Dhabi
Language: English
Subfield: Emergency Medical Services
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W3183784129