The Importance of Healthcare Workers to Comply with Infection Prevention and Control Instructions During COVID-19 Outbreak-A Survey Study

Objective:Taking precations to prevent contamination and developing prevention programs play a key role in the outbreak. For this purpose, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) of healthcare workers (HCWs) and their compliance with hand hygiene were investigated in the current Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak.Methods:In study, 117 HCW, who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between 11 March and 18 May 2020, and 117 HCW, who did not meet the case definition, 234 HCW were included in the study, A survey consisting of 28 questions was applied to obtain the research data. The survey consisted of multiple choice questions and was prepared by the researchers using the knowledge of the literature.Results:It was determined that 65.8% of the participants were women, 41.9% were nurses, 82.1% did not have additional diseases and 62.8% did not smoke. Positivity was significantly higher in young patients aged 20-30 (p=0.05). In the use of PPE, the use of gloves as “always recommended” was found higher in infected HCW with 77.8% (p=0.012). The use of overalls/gowns was found to be statistically significantly lower in infected healthcare workers (p=0.01). In terms of the hand hygiene application variable after touching the patient between the groups, compliance was found to be low in healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19 (p=0.005).Conclusion:It was observed that the risks of healthcare workers getting COVID-19 decreased significantly if the infection control measures were followed. It is thought that it would be beneficial to investigate new methods to ensure that protective measures are fully implemented by HCW.