Leadership and crisis management of COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania – a survey among public health professionals
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute – CAPHRI, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands | ||
Czabanowska, Katarzyna | Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute – CAPHRI, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands | Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland |
Aim: To explore the perception of leadership and COVID-19 crisis management in Lithuania by public health professionals. Methods: The study is an observational, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. Study population – all public health professionals, who work in local public health bureaus in Lithuania. The sample included 288 professionals, 243 questionnaires were chosen as suitable for the analysis. Statistical significance was based on an alpha error of 0.05 and data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0. Results: Management measures of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania were evaluated better during the first peak of the pandemic (p<0.05). 49% of the respondents had some difficulties in understanding and pursuing their new tasks during the pandemic. Directors of public health bureaus had more difficulties with their tasks when compared with public health professionals (p<0.05). 84,6% of the respondents think that leadership is important in crisis management. Conclusion: The management measures were evaluated better during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dissemination of information, inter-institutional collaboration, and future crisis preparedness training were specified as the cornerstones for crisis management.