Impact of COVID-19 on Management, Quality and Satisfaction of Health Organizations: A Case Study in a Portuguese Hospital

The hospital health care professionals are the front-line fighting COVID-19 considering they are responsible for all the care provided to patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of COVID-19 at the hospital management level and, also, to understand how psychosocial environment, and satisfaction of Health Professionals were affected. A case study was performed in a Portuguese Hospital. Data were collected at one hospital under study at two different occasions: the first before the pandemic (November 2019) and the second almost two years after the pandemic started (November 2021). Regarding data collection, 37.0% of participants responded in the occasion 1 ( n = 296) and 63.0% responded in the occasion 2 ( n = 503). The instrument for the Assessment of Global Management of Health Organizations (AGMHO) consists of 39 items organized into six dimensions (Gaspar et al. in J Occup Environ Med 63: 581–587, 2021). Comparing timings pre and during pandemic COVID-19, it was found that the participants in the pre-COVID-19 era showed stronger organizational culture, higher quality of life, better psychosocial environment regarding content/leadership and higher job satisfaction when compared to the participants during pandemic COVID-19. On the other hand, participants in the second occasion were found to have higher psychosocial risks related to mental health when compared to participants in the pre-COVID-19 phase. We conclude that the professionals’ perception of the different dimensions of the health organization worsened after 2 years of the pandemic. With special focus on psychosocial risks at work and relationship with leadership. Article Highlights The systemic evaluation of professionals regarding the quality of the health organization worsened 2 years after the start of the pandemic. After two years of facing the pandemic, professionals were exposed to high levels of stress and higher psychosocial risks at work. The professionals' satisfaction reveals that it is more strongly influenced by the psychosocial environment related to the work content and leadership relationship, as well as the organisational culture. It is a priority to intervene in leadership relationships and psychosocial risks at work related to the physical and psychological demands of work, stress management and a more active and involved role for the professional. The importance and impact of organizational culture on processes and results was demonstrated. The relatio