Opinions of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Physicians on Hospital Pandemic Management and Factors Influencing Reading the Pandemic Influenza National Preparedness Plan

Introduction: Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (IDCM) physicians have critical importance in terms of pandemic management in hospitals. There are recommendations for hospitals in the national pandemic preparedness plan, which was developed to limit the damage during pandemic periods. With this study, it was aimed to determine the reading status of IDCM physicians of the pandemic plan and the factors affecting it, and to learn their views on the application of the headings in the plan. Materials and Methods: For this descriptive study, the opinions of physicians were collected with an electronic questionnaire for the periods of June 2020 and January 2021. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine the associated factors of physicians’ reading of the pandemic plan. Results: Of the 169 physicians participating in the study, 62.7% were women, with a mean age of 43.1±9.9 years, and nearly two-thirds of the physicians were working in a tertiary hospital. More than 70% of physicians read the pandemic preparedness plan. The rate of reading of the pandemic plan increased with the physician’s time spent in IDCM practice [odds ratio (OR)=1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-1.16, p=0.037], and previous Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) experience (OR=3.10, 95% CI=1.00-9.58, p=0.050), and it decreased with the hand hygiene compliance of healthcare professional (OR=0.27, 95% CI=0.11-0.68, p=0.006) and the number of IDCM physicians working in the physician’s hospital (OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.94-0.99, p=0.016). Conclusion: Physicians’ reading status of the national pandemic preparedness plan did not differ significantly between the periods. As the time spent in IDCM practice and their pandemic experience before COVID-19 increased, the status of reading the pandemic plan increased. As the compliance with hand hygiene among the health professionals working in the physicians’ hospital and the number of IDCM physicians increased it decreased. Attention should be paid to the introduction of the pandemic plan to physicians with professional inexperience and no pandemic experience.