Factors Affecting Medical Equipment Management in the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis: A Mixed Qualitative and Quantitative Study

Abstract

Background: Medical equipment plays an important role in community health in critical situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine and identify the factors affecting the management of medical equipment in crisis situations. Methods: The present study was conducted as a mixed qualitative and quantitative study in 2020. In the qualitative section using the targeted sampling method, ten medical equipment management experts and in the quantitative section using available sampling method, 200 managers and experts active in this field from hospitals and related companies were selected for this study. The qualitative part was conducted in two stages of reviewing texts and interviewing experts and in the quantitative part we evaluated the validity of the structure and the reliability of the questionnaire. Results: The validity of the structure was assessed using heuristic factor analysis. KMO index was 0.971 and Bartlett test was significant (P < 0.05). All six approved components in the content validity section, based on the mathematical model, explain and determine more than 77% of the variance related to the purpose of the study which is the management of medical equipment in COVID-19 pandemic situations. Conclusion: The results showed that the instructions, management, information technology, equipment, manpower, and physical space components had the highest and lowest priority in the management of medical equipment in critical situations, respectively. In this regard, appropriate instructions should be provided first and localized protocols should be communicated from the same source at the same time.