Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess how the healthcare professionals in the Castellón Province (Spain) perceive healthcare quality and management during the first COVID-19 wave. A cross-sectional study was carried out. An online survey on healthcare quality and management during the first COVID-19 wave was sent to healthcare professionals. Almost half of the sample believed that healthcare quality worsened during the first COVID-19 wave (45.3%; n = 173). Heavier workload (m = 4.08 ± 1.011) and patients’ complexity (m = 3.77 ± 1.086) were the factors that most negatively impacted healthcare quality. Health department 3, primary care center, and other doctors assessed human and material resources management as significantly worse (p < 0.05). Human and material resources management and the healthcare organization negatively affected healthcare quality during the first COVID-19 wave. Significant differences were observed according to departments, services, and professionals.
Highlights
Spain has one of the best health systems in the world [1] and occupies position 15 in the Global Health Security Index ranking [2]
Data indicate Spain as one of the countries to be most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some experts stress the need to individually evaluate how Spain has responded to this pandemic [3]
Most of the participants belonged to the public health system (96.9%; n = 370), from HD2 (74.6%; n = 285), they worked in a hospital (74.6%; n = 285), and 84.8% (n = 324) had been in contact with COVID-19 patients
Summary
Spain has one of the best health systems in the world [1] and occupies position 15 in the Global Health Security Index ranking [2]. Data indicate Spain as one of the countries to be most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some experts stress the need to individually evaluate how Spain has responded to this pandemic [3] While waiting for this evaluation to be made, healthcare professionals lived the consequences of the taken measures first-hand and have witnessed the possible impact on healthcare quality. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new kind of coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 [4] This virus is transmitted via direct contact or when an infected person releases droplet while talking, coughing or sneezing [5], and possibly via aerosols [6]. Some cases are asymptomatic, the virus is initially manifested by mild respiratory symptoms after 4–8 incubation days, and can become clinically serious with pneumonia, multisystem failure, and even death, which occur mainly in people with previous diseases [7]
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