Upholding Quality and Patient Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic-A Jordanian Case Study.

BACKGROUND: The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid increase in demand for healthcare services over a prolonged period, and the hospital emergency preparedness system has been essential. Therefore, this study aimed to explore Jordanian hospitals' response to emergency situations and examine the underlying role and effect of accreditation programs as a "Quality and Patient Safety" tool to deal with emergency situations during the pandemic. METHODS: An online survey for a cross-sectional study was conducted in Jordan between 1 March and 30 May 2022, to examine the opinions of hospitals' top, senior, and middle managers using a validated questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 200 healthcare providers from 30 hospitals participated in the study. From the areas within accreditation standards that were investigated, capacity building on emergency preparedness and communication abilities received the least scores (2.46 and 2.48, respectively). Additionally, hospitals with mature quality and patient safety culture (>3 accreditation cycles) demonstrated a statistically significant difference in score in two domains-emergency preparedness (p = 0.027) and infection prevention and control (p = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS: During outbreaks, hospitals that are required to comply with accreditation standards that address all emergency preparedness aspects will fare better in quality performance.

Assessment of Hospital Readiness to Respond to COVID-19 Pandemic in Jordan-A Cross Sectional Study.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals faced tremendous pressure to cope with the emergency preparedness situations needed to cater for the influx of patients while maintaining their essential services. This study aimed to assess the level of readiness of hospitals in Jordan to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic using the WHO hospital readiness checklist. A cross-sectional survey using the modified and validated checklist was conducted in Jordan between 15 May and 15 June 2021. The checklist entailed ten key response functions with a total of 60 activities. Data from 22 hospitals were collected through a structured survey process by two surveyors for each hospital. The overall readiness score of hospitals was 1.77 ± 0.20, with a lower overall score in the northern region (1.65 ± 0.24) than the middle (1.86 ± 0.07) or southern (1.84 ± 0.14) regions. The diagnosis response function scored highest (1.95); but despite efforts, contingency plan development was not met by most hospitals, with a total score ≤ 1.45. Provision of psychological support and occupational health support to ensure the wellbeing of staff scored below average. Outcomes from this survey exposed gaps while offering a framework for upcoming endeavors to improve hospital readiness for any potential pandemic.