Background
The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), formerly known as the San Francisco Health Department, comprises several sections that serve the city of San Francisco. The mission of the San Francisco Department of Public Health is to safeguard and improve the health of all San Franciscans. The San Francisco Health Network is the area’s only comprehensive healthcare infrastructure, with sites around the city, notably San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and more than fifteen primary care health centers (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). With an extensive emphasis on the public, the Population Health Division’s ultimate goal is to guarantee the optimal health of San Franciscans. As a result, the novel coronavirus threatened the San Francisco Bay Area at the onset of 2020. In this regard, the organization was required to provide anti-pandemic measures for its local community.
Problems encountered by SFDPH
In 2020, COVID-19 posed several difficulties for health systems throughout the globe. Thus, subsequent rises in cases and hospitalizations indicated that pressure grew more pervasive henceforth, with less organizational resilience to meet demand spikes for treatment. For instance, the SFDPH organization had significant setbacks due to the epidemic. For example, due to the epidemic, SFDPH specifically lacked proper leadership, had scarce resources, and was unable to communicate effectively.
Lack of Proper Leadership
Globally, leadership in hospitals played a crucial role in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. While there is no set of attributes that are required in all leadership circumstances, some traits, talents, and competencies tend to be more important than others during times of crisis management (Abdi et al., 2021). In the instance of SFDPH, leadership shortcomings in lack of competency were shown by the fact that Biliski, a member of the task force designated to battle the fast-spreading virus, claimed responsibility for the operation director immediately after her appointment (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). This indicates that previous SFDPH executives lacked the ability to guide the organization through difficult times.
Inadequate Resources
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the world’s richest hospitals have been beset by resource limitations, including shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators. Unquestionably, the procurement of PPE for healthcare personnel and breathing equipment for patients is a crucial aspect of combating the COVID-19 epidemic. However, SFDPH has never had an abundance of these resources. Instead, PPE and breathing gear are in short supply at SFDPH, making operations challenging.
Inability to Communicate Effectively
The global health crisis caused by the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a profound effect on how hospital facilities communicate within the setting and with the clients. This is because all care environments are required to keep pace to sustain isolation and social distancing and the pervasive utilization of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE. As such, SFDPH healthcare facility workers were challenged with modern communication responsibilities, such as proactive health management for patients who are already fragile and having sensitive talks about end-of-life via masks or electronic media.
Strategic and Operational Analyses of SFDPH
During the initial week of the outbreak, significant information gaps on the new virus jeopardized the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s capacity to guide the public effectively. As a result, Bilinski tried to get her staff on the same page regarding the best way to handle the developing problem. In the early days of the viral outbreak, she and her colleagues placed a high priority on comprehensive strategies and operational measures to ensure the feasibility of SFDPH.
Strategic
The Command Center staff first prioritized safeguarding the most vulnerable people. Bilinski collaborated with county-based groups to adapt the CDC’s national concept of disadvantaged people to San Francisco’s particular demographic. Seniors living in communal settings topped the list of those at high risk. Despite the fact that health experts continued to understand the new virus while attempting to treat it, one of the first lessons was that the death rate among the elderly was far greater than that of younger groups. The team led by Bilinski made avoiding COVID-19 at the hospital a top objective because they believed that outbreaks in big congregate settings might spread swiftly and undermine the city’s healthcare system (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). Due to the fact that the City of Laguna Beach controlled the hospital, Bilinski was able to use nurses and other health experts to make judgments as the issue escalated.
Second, Bilinski’s team attempted to safeguard healthcare professionals. They want to avoid the overcrowding of acute care facilities and the depletion of beds and ventilators required to save patients with respiratory diseases. Following the suspension of schools, SFDPH and Mayor Breed assisted important health professionals by turning libraries and recreation centers into cases of emergencies for children, healthcare workers, and low-income families (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). This offered a secure sanctuary for frontline parents, such as hospital employees, to work from home as office workers were not ideal.
Operational
The operational management strategies of SFDPH included effective decision-making. For example, people across Boyo’s sections understood that San Francisco’s pre-pandemic illness testing method was insufficient to control the fast spread of the new coronavirus; therefore, the operation team focused on enhancing testing. In this case, testing cycle times were ineffectively sluggish. If test results were returned in five days, there were five days during which possibly infectious individuals were not isolated or quarantined. In addition to improving the testing pace, Bilinski and her team had to determine how to perform testing in a safe manner wherever folks were taking refuge (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). As an advocate for equality, she recalled Boyo’s statements and realized that the virus affected populations unevenly. While some Inhabitants could finance transit to testing centers, others in low-income regions could not and, as a result, need quick access to testing equipment close to their homes.
Ethics and Sustainability Issues
In ethical consideration, throughout the COVID-19 period, the organization suffered from unequal treatment of patients. As such, in SFDPH majority of hospitalized patients with the new coronavirus were Latino. The rate of hospitalization was around three times the normative level. Meanwhile, the mortality rate for Black people was roughly double that of all other races. Thus, to combat this imbalance, Bilinski tried to cultivate trust among disadvantaged communities (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). She discovered that people frequently felt betrayed by the government. This meant that if her team had to reschedule testing, possibly owing to a lack of personnel, the trust would be broken, reducing their ability to screen people for the virus. Therefore, the Command Center team labored diligently to comprehend community demands by holding frequent discussions, being upfront about their constraints, and honoring their obligations.
However, in sustainability, various countermeasures were imposed, for example, stay-at-home measures, and public mask-wearing, among others. Therefore, these activities bred various stressors for employees at SFDPH for sustainability during such desperate times. Bilinski believed her team was driven by a powerful passion for purpose, and she was aware that they were experiencing fatigue and distress, and she wanted to assist (Chatman & Hassner, 2022). The crew first compared labor to a sprint, then to a marathon, and last to a relay event. With the length of the catastrophe uncertain, Bilinski allowed team members time off to relax so they could resume as their healthiest selves. While the task was serious and individuals were grieving, team members attempted to provide mutual aid and find uncommon fun moments.
Action Plans
Conclusion
The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), previously known as the San Francisco Health Department, consists of a variety of divisions that provide services to the city of San Francisco. In 2020, COVID-19 faced several challenges for health systems throughout the world. Consequently, the organization had difficulties in its operations, for instance. There were insufficient resources, a lack of good leadership, and ineffective communication. In response, SFDPH developed many operational and strategic frameworks to address similar incidents. Similarly, the company has to address ethical and environmental concerns in order to ensure smooth operations.
References
Abdi, Z., Lega, F., Ebeid, N., & Ravaghi, H. (2021). Role of hospital leadership in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Services Management Research, 35(1), 2–6. Web.
Chatman, J & Hassner, L. P. (2022). San Francisco Department of public health: Leading through the COVID-19 crisis. BerkeleyHaas Case Series