A Scoping Review to Identify Hospital Resilience Strategies Towards the Health Crisis Due Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Health system resilience (HSR) refers to the ability of healthcare systems to absorb, adapt, learn, and transform in response to health crises, such as pandemics, natural disasters, or armed conflicts, while maintaining their essential functions. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected hospitals, which are crucial components of the healthcare system. Moving forward, hospitals are anticipated to withstand health crises by fostering organizational resilience and management strategies. This scoping review examined empirical research on hospital resilience published in peer-reviewed journals. Searches were conducted in electronic databases including Elsevier Scopus, Science Direct, and EBSCO for studies published between January 2021 and December 2024, using keywords such as "hospital,""resilience,""management,""COVID-19,"and "pandemic."Out of the 2.435 articles, 13 were screened, and data were extracted. The findings highlight hospital preparedness, regulatory framework and implementation guidelines, leadership, coordination and communication, human resources, budget availability, surge capacity and essential services, clinical management including rapid identification, diagnosis, and isolation, infection prevention and control, and information systems. Additional findings include the supply of equipment, medicines, and vaccines, in-service training, waste management, and the establishment of a proactive organizational framework to enhance hospital resilience.