agility in isfahan hospitals, iran

background: agility means ability to respond and react quickly and successfully to environmental changes. agility is an important factor for hospital effectiveness. agility in a hospital indicates the hospital's responsiveness when faced with internal and external changes. if hospitals are designed to be agile, they should have the ability to compete with other hospitals and provide appropriate services to their patients. this study compared agility in public and private hospitals in isfahan, iran in 2009. methods: this descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009. the study population included the executives of administrative and financial sectors, health sector, and paraclinics, as well as supervisors in khorshid, chamran, khanevadeh and sina hospitals. a total number of 130 individuals (calculated according to cochran formula) were selected from the four mentioned hospitals. data collection tool was the 42-item likert-scale questionnaire of agility. the maximum and minimum scores of the questionnaire were 168 and zero, respectively. the  questionnaire was valid and reliable based on the experts in the field and a cronbach's alpha of 0.96, respectively. data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods in spss 16 . results: mean agility scores public and private hospitals were 103.7 and 113.9, respectively. although a significant difference was observed between mean agility scores of selected hospitals in isfahan (p < 0.0001), public and private hospitals were not significantly different in terms of agility (p > 0.05). conclusion: agility in both public and private hospitals was higher than moderate. in order to improve agility in hospitals, using strategies and solutions such as flexible organizational structure, outsourcing of supplies and services, professional development of staff and preparation to face the environmental changes are required.