Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec 15;27(4):36-43.
doi: 10.7812/TPP/23.039. Epub 2023 Sep 21.

Evaluating COVID-19 Response Within a Tribal Health Care Organization

Krista R Schaefer  1 , Brianna Triplett  1 , Olivia Lorenzo  1 , Michelle Aregood  1 , Donna Galbreath  1 , Denise A Dillard  2 , Ann Futterman Collier  1
Affiliations

Evaluating COVID-19 Response Within a Tribal Health Care Organization

Krista R Schaefer et al. Perm J. .

Abstract

Introduction: Health care organizations of all types have adapted in response to COVID-19. Responding to the pandemic has varied across organizations and there are few standardized frameworks from which to evaluate an organizational response. This article reports COVID-19 responses by a tribal health care organization using a synthesized evaluation framework that integrated the organizational values and allowed for timely implementation of responses during this COVID-19 public health emergency.

Methods: The authors categorized each COVID-19 response into six domains, including leadership practices, patient engagement, operations management, teamwork and communication, public health, and external partnerships. Responses were analyzed by domain and across time.

Results: COVID-19 responses included medical alerts, modifying delivery of care, establishing testing and vaccination sites, additional benefits for employees, as well as new processes for communication between employees and senior leadership. COVID-19 responses were most frequently categorized into the operation management domain (80%). Many responses, especially those that considered patients, employees, and the community, also fit other domains.

Discussion: Operation management was the most frequent domain because the pandemic emerged rapidly and required swift, agile, action-oriented responses from the tribal health care organization. The majority of COVID-19 responses involved multiple, not single, domains.

Conclusion: Our evaluation approach captured areas of importance to the tribal health organization and may be pertinent for other indigenous organizations and rural communities. It is especially important to consider tribal perspectives in response to COVID-19 because of the prior history with Western medicine and infectious diseases, and health care limitations experienced due to rurality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest None declared

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
COVID-19 response count by domain from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to March 2022.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jernigan VBB, Duran B, Ahn D, Winkleby M . Changing patterns in health behaviors and risk factors related to cardiovascular disease among American Indians and Alaska natives . Am J Public Health . 2010; 100 ( 4 ): 677 – 683 . 10.2105/AJPH.2009.164285 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Redwood DG, Lanier AP, Johnston JM, Asay ED, Slattery ML . Chronic disease risk factors among Alaska native and American Indian people, Alaska, 2004-2006 . Prev Chronic Dis . 2010; 7 ( 4 ). - PMC - PubMed
    1. US Commission on Civil Rights . Broken promises: Continuing federal funding shortfall for native Americans. Washington, DC . 2018.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities: National standards for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health . 2018.
    1. Haldane V, De Foo C, Abdalla SM, et al . Health systems resilience in managing the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from 28 countries . Nat Med . 2021; 27 ( 6 ): 964 – 980 . 10.1038/s41591-021-01381-y - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources