PUBLIC RELATIONS AND HEALTH CRISIS MANAGEMENT ALGERIAN HOSPITALS DURING THE COVID 19 CRISIS, A MODEL
The link between health institutions and the Covid 19 crisis, which the whole world suffers from its negative effects at all levels, makes public relations management obligated to manage the crisis and try to control it and tries to get out of it with the least possible damage, especially since its inability means the collapse of the entire health system. Thus this research paper aims to identify the nature of the roles assigned to public relations practitioners in Algerian hospital institutions in managing the Covid 19 crisis during the year 2020, the powers vested in them, the means and methods used in managing this crisis, the strategies that were drawn to contain its repercussions with the least possible losses, and the influencing factors on its effectiveness in the reality of health practice in the sector. The study starts from a fundamental question: What is the nature of the roles that the public relations Department plays in Algerian hospitals, in the management of the Covid19 crisis From this problem, there are a number of derived questions, the most important of which are: 1- which type of activities are assigned to the Public Relations Department of hospital institutions during the Covid19 crisis? 2- What is the role played by public relations practitioners, represented in the studied sample, in managing the Covid19 crisis? 3- What are the methods and means used within the strategy that was drawn up by the Public Relations authority to contain the repercussions of this crisis? 4- What are the factors affecting the effectiveness of this administration in the reality of health practice in the sector? 5- What are the study sample proposals to improve the performance of this device during the health crisis phase? The importance of this study is that it tries to fill in the shortcomings of scientific studies related to the role of public relations in managing health crises in particular, and its importance derives also from the fact that it deals with a topic that has a great impact locally, regionally and internationally, as the Covid19 crisis and the human losses it causes and psychological exhaustion The negative effects on social and economic life give added value to scientific studies that deals with its dimensions. More over to study how public relations practitioners in the health sector manage health crises would also open the horizon for activating the role of public relations management in resolving crises, which is the core of the objectives of this research paper. This study, which is part of the descriptive studies, used the survey method as well as the questionnaire. the questionnaire tool as an important technique for investigating facts related to the topic. This field study that was carried out during the month of September 2020 relied on the intentional sample in selecting the research terms related to the administration´s employees, those responsible for supervision, management and implementation matters and those in charge of communication within the two public hospital institutions, Nafisa Hammoud -formerly Parnet - and Beni Messous Hospital, which are specialized specializes in chest diseases, as they are considered as health poles in Algeria, and its population reached 13 The random sample was also relied upon to select items from the medical and paramedical corps concerned with the Covid19 crisis, by virtue of that they deal with public relations, and they represent the link between it and its external audience, and their number reached 26 individuals.
Keywords: Public Relations, Crisis Management, Health Institution, Covid19.