Study on the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on the operation and management of tertiary maternal and child health hospitals / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To acquire the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the operation of tertiary maternal and child health(MCH) hospitals in China, for decision making support of health administrative departments and hospital managers.Methods:The National Maternal and Child Health Institutions Resources and Operations Survey Direct Reporting System was used to collect the resource allocation, workload, treatment quality, work efficiency and asset operation of the tertiary MCH hospitals in China in 2019(pre pandemic) and 2020(during pandemic). Statistical descriptions were made using median.Results:In 2019 and 2020, the number of tertiary MCH hospitals in China was 236 and 258, respectively, and their relevant data were analyzed. In terms of resource allocation, the number of health technicians in 2019 and 2020 was 560 and 548, respectively, and the actual number of available beds was 308 and 305 respectively. In terms of workload, the annual outpatient visits in 2020 were 337 990, a decrease of 23.6%from that in 2019; The total number of emergency visits was 28 997, a decrease of 32.5%; The total number of discharged patients was 13 673, a decrease by 20.5%; A total of 4 723 training sessions on MCH were held for primary institutions, an increase of 1.2 percent. A total of 1 953 724 primary-level health technicians were trained, an increase of 175.2 percent. In terms of work efficiency, the average length of hospital stay of discharged patients decreased from 5.56 days in 2019 to 5.00 days in 2020. Bed utilization rate decreased from 88.90% to 69.15%; Bed turnover decreased from 53.69 to 44.22. In terms of treatment quality, the critical illness mortality rate of inpatients was 0.37% in 2020, 0.11% lower than that in 2019. The in-hospital mortality rate for neonatal patients was 0.04%, a 0.03% drop. In terms of asset operation, the total revenue in 2020 was 248.355 million yuan, an increase of 4.46% compared with 2019, in which the proportion of financial subsidies increased from 11.26% to 15.72%.Conclusions:The in-hospital services and institutional health care services of tertiary MCH hospitals in China were downsized by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the work efficiency was relatively stable, along with acceptable resource allocation, good treatment quality and asset operation.