A study of the evacuation and allocation of hospital beds during the Covid-19 epidemic: a case study in Iran

Abstract Background Shortage of resources, such as hospital beds, needed for health care especially in times of crisis can be a serious challenge for many countries. Currently, there is no suitable model for optimal allocation of beds in different hospital wards. The Data Envelopment Analysis method (DEA) has been used in the present study to examine the evacuation and allocation of hospital beds during the covid-19 pandemic in order to contribute to effective planning for fighting the spread the covid-19 virus. Methods The present study was conducted in two stages in hospitals affiliated with Urmia University of Medical Sciences (UUMS) in 2021. First, the number of excess beds was determined by calculating the technical efficiency using the DEA method and Deap2.1 software. To reallocate excess beds to covid-19 patients, the types of hospital wards were considered. As a result of this analysis, the inefficient hospitals with excess beds in different wards, which could be used for covid-19 patients with more serious symptoms, were identified. Results The results of the study show that the average technical efficiency of the studied hospitals was 0.603. These hospitals did not operate efficiently in 2021 and their current output can be produced with less than 61% of the used input. Also, the potential of these hospitals, over a period of 1 year, for the evacuation of beds and reallocation of them to covid-19 patients was calculated to be 1781 beds, 450 of which belonged to general wards and 1331 belonged to specialized wards. Conclusions The DEA method can be used in the allocation of resources in hospitals. Depending on the type of hospital wards and the health condition of patients, this method can help policy-makers identify hospitals with the best potential but less emergency services for the purpose of reallocation of resources, which can help reduce the severe effects of crises on health resources.