Background: Public participation strengthens the public presence in healthcare. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the dimensions of attracting public participation in the Iranian health system. Methods: A mixed-method research was conducted from May 2019 to July 2020. A comparative study (using the documents of five countries that were selected purposefully), tool design and validation (through holding two expert panels with the participation of 26 people who were selected based on the inclusion criteria), and finalization of the participation framework (field test with the participation of 283 recruited people based on the inclusion criteria) were performed. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were applied using SPSS-v26 and AMOS-v26. Results: Forty-eight components on five factors, including citizenship rights and customer orientation, socioeconomic factors, communication with people and non-governmental organizations, research and technology, and managerial and organizational factors with impact factors of 0.967, 0.951, 0.957, 0.944, and 0.955 were loaded, respectively. The CFA denoted the approval of the framework with the five mentioned factors. Conclusions: In this study, a framework was developed and approved during different stages. Using this framework, healthcare policymakers can adopt the best strategies for engaging public participation and improving the effectiveness of decisions through evidence-informed policymaking.

Purpose This study aims to identify health workforce challenges at Iranian hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This was a conventional content analysis study conducted in 2020. The population consisted of the managers (heads of hospitals, managers and matrons) and staff (nurses, physicians, etc.) of eligible hospitals. The participants were selected using purposive sampling, and data saturation was achieved after 28 interviews. The data were analyzed in MAXQDA10. Findings In total, 28 interviews were conducted with 10 women and 18 men. The challenges of hospital human resources were categorized into five main themes and 15 sub-themes. The main themes were the shortage of human resources, burnout, the need to acquire new knowledge and skills, the employees’ health and safety and the reward system. Originality/value Identification of challenges faced by human resources is the first step toward preventing human force shortage and psychological problems in the personnel. Implementing the recommendations of the present study would assist the proper management of hospitals’ human resources.