Agility and Resilience During COVID-19 and Post-Pandemic Innovation in Brazilian Public University Hospitals

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid adaptations in healthcare systems worldwide. Academic medical centers, pivotal in healthcare education and research, rapidly adopted innovations. Brazilian state-owned university hospitals experienced unprecedented pressure on their services and were compelled to adopt new approaches to education and care delivery.

Analyze the organizational agility and resilience of two Brazilian federal university hospitals during the pandemic. Identify crisis-driven innovations and propose a quantitative indicator framework to measure agility, resilience, and the embedding of innovations post-crisis.

We conducted a document analysis of the COVID-19 contingency plans, managerial reports and news items from the two hospitals, both managed by the Brazilian Hospital Services Company. Actions were inductively coded and synthesized into measurable indicators.

The hospitals implemented tactical and operational adjustments, relocated resources, and improved patient care strategies. Telemedicine and strategic patient transfers empowered users during critical phases. Virtual care technologies promoted self-care and improved treatment efficacy, while staff well-being programs supported clinical teams. We present an indicator framework comprising 26 metrics, organized into pandemic-phase (agility and resilience) and post-COVID (innovation) blocks.

The contingency plans demonstrate strong organizational agility and resilience. The proposed framework offers a practical toolkit for benchmarking crisis readiness and tracking the institutionalization of pandemic-era innovations, thereby supporting Brazil's universal healthcare system and guiding future research.