During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Dutch hospitals had to provide care in great uncertainty and under enormous pressure while keeping the quality of that care as high as possible.
In an article recently published, our researchers Dr. Bert de Graaff, Jenske Bal MSc and Prof. Roland Bal analyse the work that hospitals had to do in this regard. Based on observations of decision-making processes in a large university hospital in the Netherlands, they show how hospitals dealt with uncertainty and scarcity and what solutions they came up with. The researchers look at the role of numbers and informal relationships, and at the 'tinkering' (with materials, with organisational forms) that was necessary to cope with the pandemic. The researchers also pay attention to the blind spots that emerged, such as the large scaling down of 'normal' hospital care and the needs of long-term care.
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This study has been published in the peer-reviewed publication Health, Risk & Society. Read the full article here.
