Leadership in the process of ensuring a safe hospital environment in nursing practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

Information for nursing staff, 2022, 55(2), 12-18.

Zh. Stoyanova

MHAT – Varna, Military Medical Academy

Abstract. A pandemic is a complex phenomenon that requires multi-directional corrective actions and, above all, preventive measures. Managing crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be the biggest challenge facing healthcare organizations. In the process of ensuring a safe hospital environment for patients and staff, various models and adequate approaches to crisis management were applied. In order to explore the opinion of health care managers on the challenges and practices of providing a safe hospital environment in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, a qualitative survey – a semi-structured interview – was conducted among 35 health care managers. Based on the results of the interviews with head and senior nurses, the main themes related to “challenges” and “practices” during the pandemic related to the practice of health care professionals were identified. Challenges include: developing and implementing measures to manage safe hospital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic; staff shortages and psychological problems. Practices include changes in nurses’ work schedules, nurse rotation, staff training, organizational support. Healthcare managershave provided new and safe practices for managing staff and the environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study show that healthcare managers perceive management during the COVID-19 pandemic differently than other crises. In their opinion, managing in these difficult conditions is very complex and requires greater flexibility on the part of managers in accordance with constantly changing circumstances.

Key words: leadership, safe hospital environment, pandemic

Address for correspondence: Zhaneta Vasileva Stoyanova, e-mail: janeta_st@abv.bg