Volume 24, Issue 6 (February & March 2022)
J Arak Uni Med Sci 2022, 24(6): 772-777 |
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Soodagar H, FarhadiMahalli A, Rezaei H, Es'haqgh-pour Rezaee M R. Proposing Strategic Planning to Control COVID-19 and other Contagious Diseases. J Arak Uni Med Sci 2022; 24 (6) :772-777
URL: http://jams.arakmu.ac.ir/article-1-6960-en.html
URL: http://jams.arakmu.ac.ir/article-1-6960-en.html
1- Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan Branch, Gorgan, Iran. , hamidreza.sodagar@yahoo.com
2- Department of Management, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan Branch, Gorgan, Iran.
3- Department of Management, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Shirvan Branch, Shirvan, Iran.
4- Department of Humanities, Faculty of English, Payame Noor University, Bojnourd Branch, Bojnourd, Iran.
2- Department of Management, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan Branch, Gorgan, Iran.
3- Department of Management, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Shirvan Branch, Shirvan, Iran.
4- Department of Humanities, Faculty of English, Payame Noor University, Bojnourd Branch, Bojnourd, Iran.
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Letter to Editor
Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 has caused numerous economic, social, medical and political problems in the world [1]. It causes various illnesses such as cold and severe respiratory syndrome [2]. The Covid 19 pandemic is more widespread compared to previous epidemics, indicating the extremely high contagious power of this virus [3]. At the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, it requires that the decisions related to hospital personnel and the allocation of scarce resources, respiratory systems, and planning for elective surgeries be made more quickly [5]. Hospital preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the control and management of the pandemic. The strategies for preparedness include solutions for the shortage of specialized manpower, setting up an electronic health record system, supply and maintenance of medical equipment, medicine and personal protective equipment [7].
Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education can use following strategic approaches for the control of COVID-19 pandemic: Rethinking (determining the scope of planning and data collection), reconstruction of structures (planning) and re-creating (implementation and evaluation). In the rethinking stage, the level of planning (micro, macro, and beyond macro) and data collection (assessing the needs) are determined [9]. Micro-level planning includes the mandatory use of masks, social distancing, and teaching how to control the spread of the virus in television and social media. Macro-level planning, according to the economic conditions of society, includes techniques self-quarantine, remote work, providing free health insurance and free distribution of masks. In the beyond macro-level planning, in addition to controlling the micro- and macro-level planning and its feedback at the community level, the cooperation with other scientific centers in the world for producing vaccines are done [10]. In the data collection stage, the evaluation of medical centers is done to determine the readiness of these centers to deal with critical situations. The reconstruction phase includes setting work priorities, deciding on the organization’s new mission in dealing with the pandemic, and identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In the re-creating stage, medical centers select a more appropriate method to control the spread of the disease from among methods such as self-quarantine, social distancing, and remote work. Providing, organizing and making valid health information available for everyone can help prevent diseases and improve the health of the community [8].
Despite the poor warning and information from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran about the prevalence of COVID-19 and the lack of timely vaccination due to sanctions, many health workers remained in the front line of fighting against the pandemic and lost their lives in saving the patients. In the health system as a front line in the fight against the disease, valuable experiences have certainly been gained and changes have been made in the development of guidelines, equipping hospitals and medical centers and crisis management. Strategic planning helps organizations to determine their path and goals in the fight against COVID-19 by making timely, correct, intelligent and comprehensive strategic decisions.
Some studies such as Young et al. [4] on examining diseases such as SARS and COVID-19 in China, have also proposed strategic strategies such as early detection of the disease, dissemination of accurate and valid information, guidelines to prevent the spread of the disease, and quarantine for control of the virus. Amini Harandi and Asgarpour [5] showed that the strategic method can be used to take advantage of opportunities and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal damage [5]. Ahmadi Jashfaqani [6], by reviewing 16 articles on medical strategies, also recommended the application of macro-level management strategies along with medical strategies to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education for controlling the pandemic.
Therefore, strategic planning helps identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, determine priorities, select the most important needs to resolve the pandemic, provide resources and solutions, plan at three levels (micro, macro, and beyond macro), determine the mission of the organization, make policies, and reconstruct the structures.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This article is a letter to the editor and has no ethical code.
Funding
This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors
Authors' contributions
The authors had equal contribution to the preparation of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 has caused numerous economic, social, medical and political problems in the world [1]. It causes various illnesses such as cold and severe respiratory syndrome [2]. The Covid 19 pandemic is more widespread compared to previous epidemics, indicating the extremely high contagious power of this virus [3]. At the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, it requires that the decisions related to hospital personnel and the allocation of scarce resources, respiratory systems, and planning for elective surgeries be made more quickly [5]. Hospital preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the control and management of the pandemic. The strategies for preparedness include solutions for the shortage of specialized manpower, setting up an electronic health record system, supply and maintenance of medical equipment, medicine and personal protective equipment [7].
Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education can use following strategic approaches for the control of COVID-19 pandemic: Rethinking (determining the scope of planning and data collection), reconstruction of structures (planning) and re-creating (implementation and evaluation). In the rethinking stage, the level of planning (micro, macro, and beyond macro) and data collection (assessing the needs) are determined [9]. Micro-level planning includes the mandatory use of masks, social distancing, and teaching how to control the spread of the virus in television and social media. Macro-level planning, according to the economic conditions of society, includes techniques self-quarantine, remote work, providing free health insurance and free distribution of masks. In the beyond macro-level planning, in addition to controlling the micro- and macro-level planning and its feedback at the community level, the cooperation with other scientific centers in the world for producing vaccines are done [10]. In the data collection stage, the evaluation of medical centers is done to determine the readiness of these centers to deal with critical situations. The reconstruction phase includes setting work priorities, deciding on the organization’s new mission in dealing with the pandemic, and identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In the re-creating stage, medical centers select a more appropriate method to control the spread of the disease from among methods such as self-quarantine, social distancing, and remote work. Providing, organizing and making valid health information available for everyone can help prevent diseases and improve the health of the community [8].
Despite the poor warning and information from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran about the prevalence of COVID-19 and the lack of timely vaccination due to sanctions, many health workers remained in the front line of fighting against the pandemic and lost their lives in saving the patients. In the health system as a front line in the fight against the disease, valuable experiences have certainly been gained and changes have been made in the development of guidelines, equipping hospitals and medical centers and crisis management. Strategic planning helps organizations to determine their path and goals in the fight against COVID-19 by making timely, correct, intelligent and comprehensive strategic decisions.
Some studies such as Young et al. [4] on examining diseases such as SARS and COVID-19 in China, have also proposed strategic strategies such as early detection of the disease, dissemination of accurate and valid information, guidelines to prevent the spread of the disease, and quarantine for control of the virus. Amini Harandi and Asgarpour [5] showed that the strategic method can be used to take advantage of opportunities and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal damage [5]. Ahmadi Jashfaqani [6], by reviewing 16 articles on medical strategies, also recommended the application of macro-level management strategies along with medical strategies to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education for controlling the pandemic.
Therefore, strategic planning helps identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, determine priorities, select the most important needs to resolve the pandemic, provide resources and solutions, plan at three levels (micro, macro, and beyond macro), determine the mission of the organization, make policies, and reconstruct the structures.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This article is a letter to the editor and has no ethical code.
Funding
This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors
Authors' contributions
The authors had equal contribution to the preparation of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
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- Yang Y, Peng F, Wang R, Guan K, Jiang T, Xu G, et al. The deadly coronaviruses: The 2003 SARS pandemic and the 2020 novel coronavirusepidemic in China. Journal of Autoimmunity. 2020; 109:102434. [DOI:10.1016/j.jaut.2020.102434] [PMID] [PMCID]
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- Labaf A, Jalili M, Jaafari Pooyan E, Mazinani M. [Management of Covid-19 crisis in Tehran university of medical sciences hospitals: Challenges and strategies (Persian)]. Journal of School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research. 2021; 18(4):355-72. http://sjsph.tums.ac.ir/article-1-5962-fa.html
- Javadi SMH, Sajadian M. [Coronavirus pandemic a factor in delayed mourning in survivors: A letter to the editor (Persian)]. Journal of Arak University Medical Sciences. 2020; 23(1):2-7. [DOI:10.32598/JAMS.23.1.4578.3]
- Kaufman R, Herman J. Strategic planning in the educational system, translated by [F. Mashayekh, A. Bazargan, Persian trans]. Tehran: Educational Research and Planning Organization (School); 1995. https://opac.nlai.ir/opac-prod/search/briefListSearch.do?command=FULL_VIEW&id=563633&pageStatus=0&sortKeyValue1=sortkey_title&sortKeyValue2=sortkey_author
- Sodagar HR, Rezaei H, Ishaqpourrezaei MR. [Application of quantum skills in controlling the prevalence of Covid-19 disease in organizations (Persian)]. Journal of Health Information Management. 2020; 17(4):199-202. [DOI:10.22122/him.v17i4.4191]
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