Assessing the Components of Crisis Management: A Comparative Study in Private and Public Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: Crisis management, as one of the areas of consequence management, can increase crisis resilience and reduce the level of organizational vulnerability in times of crises. Therefore, this study was designed and conducted to assess the components of crisis management in private and public hospitals.
 Method: The present study was conducted in 10 hospitals, in 2020. The sample size was estimated to be 200. The components of crisis management in this questionnaire included: management commitment, taking the blame, learning, awareness, preparedness, flexibility and transparency. Data analysis was performed using Independent samples t-test and Chi-square/Fisher exact test.
 Results: The results showed that the two groups of public and private hospitals did not have significant differences in terms of individual variables (p<0.05). The crisis management index in the two groups of public and private hospitals was estimated to be 4.11 and 3.22, respectively. The results of comparative assessment of the crisis management components in the two groups revealed that all these components in public hospitals are estimated to be higher than that of the private hospitals, and their differences are also statistically significant (p<0.05).
 Conclusion: The findings of the study indicated that although the resilience of private hospitals was higher than average, the comparative assessment of the crisis management components revealed that the level of resilience in times of crises in public hospitals was higher than the private ones. Therefore, the components of crisis management in these hospitals should be improved with a proper design and a comprehensive crisis management program.