Journal of Health Care and Research

Journal of Health Care and Research

Marcin Kautsch^1*, Kamila Zientek^2
1Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
²Sucha Beskidzka Hospital, Sucha Beskidzka, Poland

Corresponding Author: Marcin Kautsch ^{ORCID iD}
Address: Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College
Ul. Skawińska 8, 31-066 Kraków, Poland.
Received date: 14 April 2021; Accepted Date: 29 May 2021; Published Date: 07 June 2021

Citation: Kautsch M, Zientek K. Castles in The Air: A Comparative Analysis of Provincial Outbreak Action Plans in The Event of an Epidemic in Poland. J Health Care and Research. 2021 Jun 07;2(2):97-109.

Copyright © 2021 Kautsch M, Zientek K. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords: Health Policy, Crisis Management, Health Care Management, Pandemic, COVID-19, Outbreak Action Plans, Poland

Abstract

This article presents the results of analyzes carried out on all provincial (voivodeship) outbreak action plans in the event of an epidemic in Poland. Voivodeships are obliged to prepare such documents by the law, however, its provisions are imprecise, therefore the content of the plans is diversified. The analytical parts of the documents do not contain basic information (like demographics). The entries are often based on the opinions of the authors and not the data, so the plans are not evidence-based. Although the plans were usually updated before or during the COVID-19 outbreak in Poland, references to the coronavirus are fragmentary. The differences between the plans and their (mostly) poor quality seem to be the result of a mixture of imprecise legislation, lack of ability to write plans, and risk avoidance. This makes the existing documents of little implementation value in the face of the emerging coronavirus threat.