Lessons Learned from the Establishment of a Public Response Telephone System in the Covid-19 Epidemic Crisis in Iran: 2020

The current study aimed to evaluate the experiences obtained from the 4030 telephone system from the perspective of managers and consultant operators.

In this qualitative content analysis, we examined the views of operator consultants (n=21) and executive managers (n=5). The interviews were conducted by telephone one month after the launch of the 4030 system in two weeks. Interviews were audio-recorded after receiving the approval of interviewees. Data were analyzed in OpenCode version 4.2 using the CFIR framework.

A total of 220 semantic codes were extracted and then categorized into five themes of program characteristics, inner setting, outer setting, characteristics of individuals involved in the program, and implementation process.

Initial planning, recruitment process, initial evaluation and training, and in-service training are of particular importance, which were not performed properly due to the hasty launch of the program. Internal interaction (between individuals, managers, and system administrators) and interactions with other target organizations were identified as weak. From the perspective of executives, participation (i.e. at all levels of planning, implementation, evaluation, and decision-making) has not been achieved properly, which has created a major obstacle for several mid-level management and executive processes and actions. It seems that with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in China and the possibility of its expansion to other countries, the precision of initial planning, expanding infrastructure, human resources, and other processes has increased.