Disinformation in crisis situations as a management error on the example of operation in the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ensuring the security of its citizens is one of the most important functions of every country. In modern times, national security should be understood as one of the basic areas of the functioning of the state, not only aimed at ensuring the possibility of survival, but above all enabling the development and freedom of pursuing national interests in a specific security environment by taking up challenges, taking advantage of opportunities, reducing risks and counteracting all kinds of threats to its interests, especially in crisis situations.Crisis management includes activities in all phases: prevention, preparation, response, reconstruction. All possible management tools should be used so that in the event of a crisis, people in charge could make the right decisions. The errors that were made in crisis situations exposed the accumulation of problems in medical facilities. They should only be used for further planning and finding solutions to avoid them. The coronavirus pandemic showed in many areas of life that managing such emergencies is not easy. Management in medical facilities was particularly difficult. Research conducted in Greater Poland Province (in hospitals) on the issue of disinformation highlighted some problems that occurred during the process of management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Observations were carried out during the pandemic among the medical staff working in medical facilities dealing only with patients infected with the SARS-Cov-2 virus. The article below contains information about the research sample, as well as the reasons for using disinformation as a tool for carrying out purposeful actions (e.g. concealment of information, fatigue and frustration, insufficient remuneration, economic savings, etc.) Conclusions were also drawn indicating the short-term and long-term effects of the use of disinformation for a given organization (e.g. fatigue, stress, arguments or quarrels inside a team, deterioration in the quality of care). Finally, proposals for solving future problems in this area (employee motivation, treating employees as a “resource” of the organization, preventing chaos, managerial staff education, employing competent people as managers) were specified.