Healthcare and the human centered organizational culture during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Italian experience

This chapter presents the experience of the Health Agency of Modena Province, Italy, during the COVID-19 pandemic using a case study approach. Consideration needs to be given to the fact that the chapter was first written at the beginning of April 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was in full effect in a highly uncertain and unpredictable global environment. Italy, Belgium, the UK and Spain were the countries most affected by the pandemic in Europe. Data were collected by healthcare professionals directly involved in the management of COVID-19 pandemic and interpreted by a multidisciplinary team, including mental health, public health, business management and statistics/machine learning scholars. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Population Health Strategies to Support Hospital and Intensive Care Unit Resiliency During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Italian Experience.

Italy was one of the countries most affected by the number of people infected and dead during the first COVID-19 wave. The authors describe the rapid rollout of a population health clinical and organizational response in preparedness and capabilities to support the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Italian province of Modena. The authors review the processes, the challenges faced, and describe how excess demand for hospital services was successfully mitigated and thus overwhelming the healthcare services avoided the collapse of the local health care system. An analysis of bed occupancy in the region predicted during the first weeks of the epidemic. The SEIR model estimated the number of infected people under different containment measures. Community resources were mobilized to reduce provincial hospitals' burden of care. A population health approach, based on a radical reorganization of the workflow and emergency patient management, was implemented. The bed saturation of the Modena Healthcare Agency was measured by an ad hoc, newly implemented intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy and COVID-19 centralized governance dashboard. ICU bed occupancy increased by 114%, avoiding saturation of the Modena Healthcare Agency system. The Emilia-Romagna region achieved a higher rate of ICU bed availability at 2.15 ICU beds per 10,000 inhabitants as compared with community 1 ICU bed availability prior to the pandemic. Rapid and radical local reorganization of regional efforts helped inform the successful development and implementation of strategic choices within the hospital and the community to prevent the saturation of key facilities.