Challenges in Implementing the WHO Hospital Readiness Checklist for the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesian Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

Purpose: To assist hospitals in preparing for a surge of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) published an assessment tool called the rapid hospital readiness checklist. This checklist has been used by numerous countries, including Indonesia. However, several technical issues were discovered, primarily as a result of the manual recording of the checklist on a spreadsheet. This study aimed to identify challenges related to the hospital readiness checklist that was implemented in Indonesia. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study used focus group discussions to collect data. The study was conducted in East Java, Indonesia, in October 2021, with the participation of nine organizations from the provinces of East Java and Bali. Data were thematically analyzed, and the findings were presented in a narrative format. Results: Hospital participants had experience in filling out a hospital readiness checklist every 3 months. Some challenges faced by the hospital was the need to manually enter data into the checklist, lack of coordination and communication, there were various perceptions in hospitals as there was no technical guide in completing the checklist, absence of feedback, and the data returning empty due to filling errors. Additionally, City X health office also identified challenges in monitoring and evaluating the hospital checklists. Conclusion: This study, which included both hospitals and the health office, described the challenges encountered in the assessment of the hospital readiness checklist. Both hospitals and DHO experienced some challenges with the current system. The checklist has the potential to evolve into a public reporting to improve efficiency and faster decision-making.