Comparison of quality standards of public care in the emergency, infectious and non-infectious wards of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad: Before and after Covid 19 pandemic onset

Abstract

Aim: In late 2019, the world was encountered with Covid 19 pandemic. Since maintaining the quality of care is one of the priorities of the healthcare system, the aim of this study was to investigate the status of public care provided to patients before and after allocating the wards to Covid 19 patients. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in the emergency room and infectious and non-infectious wards of Imam Reza Hospital. The research tool was a checklist that was compiled based on national accreditation measures. Its validity was confirmed quantitatively by ten experts. The data related to the evaluations were collected two months before and two months after allocating these wards to Covid 19 patients, entered into spss21 software, and analyzed by chi-square test. Results: In general, the quality score of public care in the emergency and non-infectious wards was significantly lower than before. In the emergency department, the installation of etiquette and in the non-infectious ward, compliance with the standard related to the pressure ulcer prevention and physical restraint had a significant reduction compared to prior the Coronavirus pandemic. The standards related to patient delivery and transformation in infectious and non-infectious wards has decreased compared to before the pandemic. For other standards, there was no significant difference between before and after Coronavirus pandemic. Conclusion: It is recommended to identify the factors affecting the reduction of compliance with healthcare standards in the wards allocated to Coronavirus and to consider appropriate solutions in the pandemic crisis.