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Purpose>This paper investigates the relationships between the core elements of a BCM system and SCRES constituents, i.e. visibility, agility, flexibility, velocity and collaboration. An explorative multiple case studies methodology was adopted, consisting of organizations in the retail, manufacturing and humanitarian sectors that had to withstand the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (January to June 2020).Design/methodology/approach>The paper adopts an interpretative approach to understand organizational behavior through observations. The source of data comes from in-depth interviews as well as the scrutiny of available official documents for triangulation. The unit of analysis is the organizations internal supply chain with a specific focus on their BCM system and SCM arrangements.Findings>This paper shows how core BCM practices have a direct impact on supply chain resilience constituents. Specifically practices such as establishing a crisis management committee and risk assessments boost constituents such as agility and flexibility. This advances the theoretical discussion on supply chain resilience, while providing practical examples for organizations to build a response to pandemic incidents.Originality/value>This paper validates the contribution of business continuity management to supply chain resilience, a concept that has mainly been linked to practices such as risk management. In this regard, this paper enriches the discussion. Secondly, the analysis explains how specific BCM practices worked during the first wave of the pandemic and how they were implemented, providing a clear path for supply chain resilience.
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BACKGROUND: Hospitals are expected to operate at a high performance level even under exceptional conditions of peak demand and resource disruptions. This understanding is not mature yet and there are wide areas of possible improvement. In particular, the fast mobilization and reconfiguration of resources frequently result into the severe disruption of elective activities, worsening the quality of care. This becomes particularly evident during the on-going coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. More resilient resource allocation strategies, that is, which adapt to the dynamics of the prevailing circumstance, are needed to maximize the effectiveness of health-care delivery. In this study, a simulation approach was adopted to assess and compare different hospital's adaptive resource allocation strategies in responding to a sudden onset disaster mass casualty incident (MCI). METHODS: A specific set of performance metrics was developed to take into consideration multiple objectives and priorities and holistically assess the effectiveness of health-care delivery when coping with an MCI event. Discrete event simulation (DES) and system dynamics (SD) were used to model the key hospital processes and the MCI plan. RESULTS: In the daytime scenario, during the recovery phase of the disaster, a gradual disengagement of resources from the emergency department (ED) to restart ordinary activities in operating rooms and wards returned the best performance. In the night scenario, the absorption capacity of the ED was evaluated by identifying the current bottleneck and assessment of the benefit of different resource mobilization strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The present study offers a robust approach, effective strategies and new insights to design more resilient plans to cope with MCIs. It becomes particularly relevant when considering the risk of indirect damage of emergencies, where all the available resources are shifted from the care of the ordinary to the "disaster" patients, like during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Future research is needed to widen the scope of the analysis and take into consideration additional resilience capacities such as operational coordination mechanisms among multiple hospitals in the same geographic area.
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BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: The rapid evolution of Covid-19 and the availability of numerous vaccines led countries to set up Massive Vaccination campaign in a very short time. Since December 2020, due to the lack of specific guidelines, multidisciplinary groups started to investigate the minimum requirements for Massive Vaccination Centers (MVC). The aim of the paper is to shed light on the process of development of a scalable model for MVC layout design and implementation. METHODS: The methodology included two phases and six steps: 1)Study of MVC with i) acquisition of process data from experimental study on an early set up vaccination hub; ii) review of scientific literature on MVC; iii) review of existing available guidelines and international examples; 2) Design proposal with iv) functional and space requirements collection; v) standard MVC layout design and vi) scalable model definition. RESULTS: The resulting layout is compact, has a good wayfinding and address safety reducing cross-contamination risks. Different vaccine lines have been designed with a central dilution area for process efficiency. Healthcare staff wellbeing is guaranteed by the provision of resting spaces, short distances, and the correct sizing of space for the different activities. To ensure optimal vaccination capacity at the peak of vaccination, a modular and scalable model of different sizes has been designed ranging from 400 to 12000 m2. CONCLUSIONS: The modular layout has been used as basic model in the regional legislation, disclosed with the Deliberation n° XI / 4353 of 24/02/2021. Further research is encouraged to compare different national and international layouts.