Hospitals Readiness in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic in Mazandaran Province, Iran 2020

Background and purpose: Hospitals are one of the vital pillars of the health system. Hospital preparedness in epidemics is a dynamic, complex and multidimensional process that shows the developed capacities and capabilities of the hospital in predicting, reducing the effects, resistance, response, and recovery in the face of biological events. The aim of this study was to investigate the readiness of hospitals in response to the pandemic of COVID-19 disease in Mazandaran province, Iran. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in April 2020 using the standard checklist of the Pan American World Health Organization (PAHO 2019). The checklist consists of ten components: incident management system (7 items), coordination (2 items), information management (2 items), logistics (7 items), finance and administration (1item), detection (3 items), diagnosis (3 items), isolation (3 items), cases management (4 items), and prevention and infection control (10 items). Data were analyzed applying Kruskal-Wallis test in SPSS V18. Results: We studied 39 hospitals in the province, including university hospitals (n=26), social security hospitals (n=4), and private hospitals (n=9). Social security hospitals showed the highest level of readiness (mean score= 82 out of 84), university hospitals had moderate level of readiness (mean score= 72.72 out of 84), and private hospitals had the lowest mean score for readiness (72.5 out of 84). According to the total scores, operational readiness was at a good level. Conclusion: The readiness of the hospitals in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic was at a good level in Mazandaran province. However, due to the prolonged pandemic and uncertainty about when it comes to an end, monitoring the key components is essential to maintain high level of preparation.