Abstract
In our current era, healthcare harbours many risks in its scope of its services, and practices and is placed in a category of dangerous professions. During this process, evaluation of risks and taking necessary precautions is inevitable. The recent pandemic that impacted our country and the world has once again showed the importance of risk evaluations in hospitals. The practices applied and those to be adopted during the pandemic are critical for the safety of healthcare workers and the safety of society in general. It is necessary to make speedy decisions and put these decisions in practice immediately during a pandemic. One of the most important instruments in strategic decision making is a SWOT analysis; an abbreviation made with the initial letters of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in English.
Objective: The present study was conducted at a state hospital that was selected to serve specifically the pandemic patients with the aim to improve the processes and procedures and to develop further studies in this area by using a SWOT analysis conducted to evaluate pandemic from an institutional perspective during the pandemic; to maintain its strength, and empower its weaknesses, prioritize the opportunities, and to take immediate precautions for emerging threats. The study aimed to.
Method: The study described and analyzed the institutional strengths, and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Researchers first created the analytical instruments; the SWOT Analysis of Critical Factors to Prevent and Control the COVID-19 Outbreaks and the COVID-19 Strategic Opportunities Model to use in data analysis and identify the critical variables in the process. The study received institutional review board approvals from T. C. Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Services and Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Clinical Studies Ethical Board (2020/169).
Results: The major themes that emerged were; in terms of strengths, processes and procedures put in place by the ministry of Health to be updated with recent data, and aimed at specific issues, and were instructional. Another strength was that the upper administration was supportive of the healthcare workers. The weaknesses included the hospital having different satellite locations. The opportunities were about the staff at the hospital and how they were invested in the process. A threat was the general risks that were associated with the city of Bolu in general.
Conclusion: It is critical for institutions to reflect on and identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). As a result of this reflective process, the institutions can combine their strengths with the external opportunities and can address their weaknesses. It is important to conduct a SWOT analysis during the pandemic to identify the institutional possibilities and resources, address the weaknesses, and provide an example for future administrations. A SWOT analysis is therefore an important and helpful instrument to guide healthcare policy makers and administrations during a given emergency process. This study will contribute to previous literature significantly as it is the first example of a SWOT analysis conducted at the hospital level during the pandemic.
