key: cord-0876178-d911uz1s authors: Özlü, İbrahim; Karaman Özlü, Zeynep; Tekin, Erdal; Onur Can, Nazım; Şöhret, Turgut title: The compliance of emergency healthcare personnel with isolation precautions during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐sectional questionnaire study date: 2021-07-03 journal: Int J Clin Pract DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.14492 sha: 0b821677f188b3b6d36baa8d75a7ed416f202e39 doc_id: 876178 cord_uid: d911uz1s OBJECTIVES: Isolation precautions are very important for emergency personnel faced with this high risk. This is cross‐sectional study carried out to determine the compliance of emergency healthcare personnel with isolation precautions during the COVID‐19 pandemic. METHODS: The study was carried out in the Emergency Services department of Erzurum Atatürk University and Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital from May 2020 to June 2020. The study population comprised 184 healthcare professionals working in emergency services, and the sample comprised 138 healthcare professionals who agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected using the “Healthcare Professionals Sociodemographic Form” and the “Compliance with Isolation Precautions Scale”. Percentage distribution, t test, variance analysis (ANOVA), Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test were used to analyse the data. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the ethics committee and the Ministry of Health. RESULTS: Of the participants, 58.7% were male, 37.7% had worked for 1‐5 years, 31.2% were nurses and the mean age was 30.78 ± 7.17. Of the participants, 86.2% wanted to receive training on isolation precautions, 87% knew the type of isolation practiced, 81.2% were able to identify suspected patients and 84.1% knew suspected patients were put into isolation. The emergency healthcare personnel's mean score on the isolation precautions compliance scale was determined as 67.63 ± 4.64. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the emergency healthcare personnel had high levels of knowledge about the COVID‐19 pandemic; however, they had an average level of compliance with isolation precautions. in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and has led to a global pandemic. The disease causing the pandemic has been named the new coronavirus disease 2019 . Data dated 06.06.2020 released from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that the confirmed number of COVID-19 patients worldwide was 6 644 011, and the number of people who lost their lives to COVID-19 was 391 839. 4 COVID-19 can infect people through air born transmission as tiny droplets suspended in the air produced when someone sneezes or coughs. The virus can also spread through objects or surfaces being touched by infected people, and through close contact such as shaking hands, kissing, etc. 5, 6 Taking protective measures is very important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the compliance of healthcare professionals responsible for the care and treatment of suspected COVID-19 patients with personal protective measures is extremely important in terms of safe, quality and sustainable health services. 7 In Turkey, isolation precautions in suspected COVID-10 patients were determined by the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 Infection) handbook of the Ministry of Health. 8 Essentially, the compliance of healthcare professionals with these isolation rules is essential for both their own health and the well-being of society. There is a high risk in emergency services where suspected COVID-19 patients come first and for the personnel exposed to the disease while working in these services. Isolation precautions are very important for emergency personnel faced with this high risk. Determining personnel's compliance with isolation precautions is a critical process. Determining compliance is significant for the elimination of deficiencies, the correction of errors and for public health. The awareness of healthcare professionals should be raised within the scope of both the national and international fight against COVID-19, which is easily, continuously and dangerously spread among the population. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the compliance of emergency healthcare personnel with isolation precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study. The study was carried out by meeting face-to-face with 138 healthcare professionals working in the emergency clinics of Erzurum Atatürk University and Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital and had treated suspected COVID-19 patients from May 2020 to June 2020. The population comprised 184 people working during the study dates, and the sample comprised 138 personnel who volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected using the "Healthcare Professionals Sociodemographic Form" and the "Compliance with Isolation Precautions Scale". The participants completed the form individually. The information of the researchers who conducted the study was kept confidential. The completion time for the forms was approximately 5 minutes. On the scale, the minimum score expected is 18 and the maximum score expected is 90. A high score showed that the compliance of healthcare professionals with isolation precautions had increased. There are four subscales on the scale: mode of transmission (3rd, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th items), personnel and patient safety (2nd, 5th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th items), environment control (1st, 13th, 15th, 18th items) and hand hygiene-use of gloves (4th, 6th, 7th items). The scale had a Cronbach's alpha level of 0.85. This study found a Cronbach's alpha level of 0.71. • There is a high risk in emergency services where suspected COVID-19 patients come first and for the personnel exposed to the disease while working in these services. • Emergency personnel had an average level of compliance with isolation precautions. • Emergency healthcare personnel had high levels of knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were evaluated using the SPSS V18 software package. Percentage distribution was used for statistical evaluation; t-test, variance analysis (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to calculate the difference between the scale scores. The confidence interval for the analysis results were found as 95%; statistical significance was deemed P < .05. The principles of the Declaration of Helsinki were followed throughout the study process. The Ethics Committee of Erzurum Atatürk University's Faculty of Medicine gave permission (28.05.2020/250) to conduct the study. Prior to conducting the study, the participants were provided information about the purpose and method of the study, and the time they were asked to allocate for the study. The participants gave verbal consent after being informed that data collected in the study were to be used only within the scope of the study. Patients were assured that their personal details and identities would be kept confidential, that participation in the study was completely based on a voluntary principle, that they could leave the study whenever they wished, and that participation to the study constituted no risk. The principles of the Helsinki Declaration of Human Rights were used to protect the individual rights of the participants. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants illustrated that 58.7% were male, 52.2% were married, 37% were high school graduates, 37.7% had worked 1-5 years, 31.2% were nurses, 79.7% were happy with their job and mean age was 30.78 ± 7.17 (Table 1 ). knew that suspected patients were put into isolation and 60.6% were not satisfied with the working conditions (Table 2) . The participants had a considerably high rate of understanding The study was conducted in the centre, and the study sample reflects only one area of Turkey. The results of this study can be generalized to the study group. This study is considered to serve as a reference in examining or discussing the role of healthcare personnel affected by a significant pandemic during this period, the rates and reasons of becoming ill among the healthcare personnel, and the status and reasons of adhering to the isolation precautions. In this regard, it is recommended that every institution assess the adherence to the isolation precautions, remedy the deficiencies found during the assessment based on the troubles they experience, and take precautions. To remedy the deficiencies, information should be updated through in-service training. In addition, healthcare personnel's quality of working conditions should be improved, which in turn improves the quality of care provided by emergency healthcare personnel and reduces the rate of healthcare-related infection. The authors wish to thank and acknowledge the participants for sharing their experiences with us. The authors declare no conflict of interest in this study. İÖ, ZKÖ and TŞ were responsible for the conception and design of the study. İÖ, ET and ZKÖ were responsible for acquisition and analysis of data; furthermore, İÖ was in charge of statistical analysis. İÖ, ZKÖ, ET, TŞ and NCO drafted the manuscript and approved the final version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. We further confirm that any aspect of the work covered in this manuscript that has involved human has been conducted with the ethical approval of all relevant bodies and that such approvals are acknowledged within the manuscript. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions. Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses Serologic evidence for MERS-CoV infection in dromedary camels SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-COV: A comparative overview World Health Organization. WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Sourcing personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic The epidemiology and clinical information about COVID-19 Assessment of Risk Factors for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Health Workers: Protocol for a Case-Control Study Infection Control Measures in Healthcare Institutions Küresel bir salgın: Covid-19 Coronavirüs enfeksiyonu hastalığının (COVID-19) epidemiyolojisi ve kontrolü Protective measures for COVID-19 for healthcare providers and laboratory personel Hemşirelerin izolasyon önlemlerine uyumunda mesleki ve kurumsal faktörlerin belirlenmesi Nurses' compliance with isolation precautions and the affecting factors Sağlık çalışanlarının izolasyon önlemlerine uyumunun değerlendirilmesi Hemşirelerin hastane enfeksiyonlarını önlemede izolasyon önlemlerine uyumlarının belirlenmesi Hemşirelerin izolasyon önlemlerine uyumları ve etkileyen faktörlerin değerlendirilmesi: İzmir örneği Bir devlet hastanesinde çalışan hekim ve hemşirelerin izolasyon önlemlerine uyumlarının değerlendirilmesi, T.C. 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