Evaluating Portuguese Public Hospitals Performance: Any Difference Before and During COVID-19?

Nunes, Alexandre Morais; Marques, Rui Cunha

doi:10.20944/preprints202210.0201.v1

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 38 publications

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“…Many authors also emphasize the effect of both clinic size and the number of nursing staff on both the technical efficiency and performance [ 65 , 66 , 68 , 71 ]. Another common finding is reported in a recent study conducted in Portugal during the pandemic showing that hospitals’ performance also dropped in 2020, while in 2021, better results were achieved [ 75 ]. Despite the fact that international research under pandemic conditions is limited, hospitals’ inefficiencies related to the diversity in their structure and management have been highlighted [ 74 , 76 , 77 , 78 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Assessing the Efficiency and Productivity of the Hospital Clinics on the Island of Rhodes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Androutsou

Kokkinos

Latsou

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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(1) Background: The aim was to measure the efficiency and productivity of 15 specialty clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic period 2020–2021 in the General Hospital of Rhodes. (2) Methods: An input-oriented data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index are used. Labor and capital were used as inputs, and in-patient discharges and days were used as outputs. (3) Results: Five out of the seven clinics in the pathology sector appeared fully efficient with an optimal productivity, and the rest showed progress in 2021. In 2020 the COVID-19 pathology clinic appeared to be inefficient and less productive, while in 2021, it showed a positive performance change. The surgical sector showed very high efficiency rates or even reached an optimal efficiency in both years. The productivity measurement, in most of the surgical clinics, was satisfactory to very high. In 2020 the COVID-19 surgical clinic appeared to be more efficient and productive than in 2021 when its performance declined. (4) Conclusions: The hospital responded to the pressure during the pandemic, by increasing its efficiency and productivity from 2020 to 2021. This was due to the accomplishment of the appropriate organizational changes in the infrastructure, human resources, and technology. The efficiency and productivity assessments should be incorporated in the hospitals’ decision making.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Assessing the Efficiency and Productivity of the Hospital Clinics on the Island of Rhodes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Androutsou

Kokkinos

Latsou

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Sociodemographic Variations on Public Service Motivation among Health Professionals in Portugal: Insights Post-COVID-19 Pandemic

Fernandes,

Santinha,

Forte

2024

Administrative Sciences

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The depletion of health professionals’ morale and motivation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic sparked an interest in understanding what drives workers to choose and remain motivated in the health sector. This study contributes to a better understanding of this phenomenon by specifically analyzing the sociodemographic underpinnings of health professionals’ public service motivation (PSM) in Portugal. The rationale is to analyze whether PSM varies among health professionals according to gender, age, education, and managerial position in an unexplored area (health) and context (Portugal). A shorter version of the PSM scale was applied to health professionals (doctors and nurses) (n = 413). The results suggest that there are differences regarding gender and age, specifically with female and older participants presenting higher levels of PSM. The same is true for those who hold a managerial position. Our results align with patterns found in studies conducted within other cultural contexts. Most importantly, however, by exploring higher and lower PSM levels according to different sociodemographics, we provide relevant clues for future qualitative studies and formulate practical measures to tackle these issues, thereby strengthening evidence-based policy formulation.

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The Portuguese Public Hospitals Performance Evolution before and during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic (2017–2022)

Caldas

Varela

2023

Sustainability

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COVID-19 is a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, which has spread worldwide since the beginning of 2020. Several pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical strategies were proposed to contain the virus, including vaccination and lockdowns. One of the consequences of the pandemic was the denial or delay of access to convenient healthcare services, but also potentially the increase in adverse events within those services, like the number of hospital infections. Therefore, the main question here is about what happened to the performance of Portuguese public hospitals. The main goal of this work was to test if the Portuguese public hospitals’ performance has been affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We used the Benefit-of-Doubt method integrated with the Malmquist Index to analyze the performance evolution over time. Then, we employed a multiple regression model to test whether some pandemic-related variables could explain the performance results. We considered a database of 40 Portuguese public hospitals evaluated from January 2017 to May 2022. The period 2017 to 2019 corresponds to the baseline (pre-pandemic), against which the remaining period will be compared (during the pandemic). We also considered fourteen variables characterizing hospital quality, divided into three main performance definitions (efficiency and productivity; access; safety and care appropriateness). As potential explanatory variables, we consider seven dimensions, including vaccination rate and the need for intensive care for COVID-19-infected people. The results suggest that COVID-19 pandemic features help explain the drop in access after 2020, but not the evolution of safety and appropriateness of care, which surprisingly increased the whole time.

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Evaluating Portuguese Public Hospitals Performance: Any Difference Before and During COVID-19?

Cited by 4 publications

References 38 publications

Assessing the Efficiency and Productivity of the Hospital Clinics on the Island of Rhodes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Assessing the Efficiency and Productivity of the Hospital Clinics on the Island of Rhodes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sociodemographic Variations on Public Service Motivation among Health Professionals in Portugal: Insights Post-COVID-19 Pandemic

The Portuguese Public Hospitals Performance Evolution before and during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic (2017–2022)

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