Organizational Resilience Among Health Organizations in Israel

Abstract

Introduction:

Health Organizations (HOs) worldwide are vital to any nation’s capacity to withstand crises. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the HOs’ awareness of the importance of Organizational Resilience to ensure Operational Continuity during crises.

This study aimed to identify the main elements affecting HOs’ resilience, to enable their application in long-term processes of capacity building.

Method:

A cross-sectional study examining the level of organizational resilience in HOs was performed, in a general hospital (group A) and one region of Emergency Medical Services–EMS (group B). A structured questionnaire, consisting of 29 items, was developed, validated, and subsequently used to assess organizational resilience. The questionnaire encompassed: ethos, organizational culture, leadership and human capital, situational awareness, adaptability, organizational performance, and learning ability.

Results:

The respondents included 225 participants from the hospital and 214 from the EMS. Both HOs presented a high level of organizational resilience (average score among hospital and EMS personnel was 3.79 versus 3.91 respectively).

In a multivariate linear regression test, the factors found to predict the organizational resilience (in both organizations) were education (academic/non-academic), gender (male/female), and two age groups (20-30 & 31-40).

These factors explained 11% of the organizational resilience. Other factors such as profession or seniority at work, were found to be non-significant.

Conclusion:

As the operational continuity of health organizations is vital during crises, the developed evaluation tool contributes to the capacity of managers and policymakers to continuously monitor the level of organizational resilience. In line with the factors identified as predictors of organizational resilience, health managers should focus on educational interventions to increase their organization’s resilience. It is recommended that follow-up studies be initiated to examine additional variables that may predict the level of organizational resilience.