| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of research. From the start of the year 2021 In Lithuania there have been more than twenty state of emergency declarations throughout the country, two of which were nationwide. Noticing, that lately the geopolitical state of Eastern Europe has been very unpredictable and volatile, furthermore, remembering that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to many casualties and to a sharp economic decline worldwide, it is important to assess the preparedness of healthcare professionals for a possible state of emergency crisis in Lithuania. This research focuses on pharmacy workers because they are usually the first health care provider to be contacted by people who are at a non-urgent health emergency. Goal of the research. To explore the outlook of self-readiness of pharmacy workers for a possible state of emergency event in Lithuania. Tasks of the research. To assess a relation between gender, education, and occupation in the pharmacy with preparedness for a possible state of emergency event. To determine what demographic factors, have an impact on preparedness for a possible state of emergency event. To compare respondents of the questionnaire by their score of preparedness for a possible state of emergency event. Methodology of the research. The information of this study was gathered through an anonymous questionnaire that was accessible online. The respondents of this questionnaire were pharmacy workers of Lithuania. Responses to the questionnaire were gathered from 14th of March 2023 to 31st of March 2023. A total of 146 respondents were tallied. Statistical analysis was performed with “IBM SPSS Statistics V26” program and various test, such as ANOVA, Chi-square test, T-test, Spearman's rank correlation, were performed for the analysis of the data. Results were statistically significant if p value was <0.05. Results of the research. This research has shown that the self-evaluation level of preparedness for state of emergency event of Lithuanian pharmacy workers is of average level, the preparedness level expressed in a percentage is equal to 50,3 %. The highest preparedness level is observed in male respondent group (expressed in percentage – 56,3 %), pharmaceutical affair manager respondent group (expressed in percentage – 51,8 %) and respondents that have 21–30 years of working experience. Alarmingly the research has found that 27,4 % of respondents think that they are prepared for a possible state of emergency event in Lithuania. However, 88,4 % of respondents expressed that they are in favour of attending more educational courses and simulated trainings that focus on dealing with state of emergency situations. |
