Abstract

This study explores healthcare operations management core challenges, a literature review was conducted by reading numerous secondary data sources, including government papers, industry reports, and scholarly literature. The findings were ten key challenges that are typically encountered by stakeholders in healthcare operations management. Those are resource allocation, cost control, patient flow and waiting times, data management and technology integration, regulatory compliance and quality assurance, staffing and workforce management, supply chain management, patient engagement and satisfaction, emergency preparedness and disaster management, encouraging a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. The results provide a significant contribution to the body of information already in existence by illuminating the recognized difficulties highlighting their complexities if not mitigated. The research question that this study aims to answer is “what is the most critical challenge faced in healthcare operations management”, based on the outcomes of the research, the relative weight of each challenge might change depending on the particular objectives and difficulties that a healthcare organization faces. Making it critical for them to take a balanced strategy that takes these aspects' interactions into account. In hospital operations management, a holistic approach that incorporates these variables is frequently the most successful technique. Prioritizing one area above others may not result in ideal outcomes thus, no one challenge can be considered more critical than the other.