Evaluation of Knowledge and Awareness Level of General Practitioners and Specialists in The Public Hospitals in Kayseri Province

INTRODUCTION: On December 31, 2019, the WHO reported pneumonia cases of unknown etiology in China and on January 7, 2020, the causative agent was identified as a new coronavirus. The disease has become a pandemic. Physicians are the leading medical staff in the epidemic. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge and awareness levels of the physicians working in primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals about the COVID-19 outbreak.
METHODS: This study, was designed as a cross-sectional and descriptive study. A survey was conducted electronically to 378 physicians. Questions were asked about the physicians' demographic characteristics, occupational information, duration of employment, whether they got education on the COVID-19 outbreak and the microbiological characteristics of the virus. Statistical significance level was taken as 5% to evaluate the results and TURCOSA program was used for calculations.
RESULTS: Of the 378 physicians participating in the study, 57.70% were male and 42.30% were female. The median age of physicians was 35 (24-64) years. At the time of the survey, 47.80% of the physicians were trained and 52.20% were not trained. The median level of knowledge score of the general practitioners was 11 (7-17), and the median level of knowledge score of specialists was 11 (5-16), and there was no significant. There was a significant difference between the trained and non-trained physicians in terms of knowledge level score.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We found that, attending physician’s speciality was not important on awareness about COVID-19. The most important factor was training on pandemic given to physicians.

Kayseri Ýli Kamu Hastanelerindeki Pratisyen ve Uzman Hekimlerin COVID-19 Salgýný Hakkýndaki Bilgi ve Farkýndalýk Düzeyinin Deðerlendirilmesi

GÝRÝÞ ve AMAÇ: 31 Aralýk 2019' da DSÖ Çin'in Wuhan þehrinde etiyolojisi bilinmeyen pnömoni vakalarý bildirmiþ ve 7 Ocak 2020’de etken yeni bir coronavirüs olarak tanýmlanmýþtýr. Hastalýk pandemi haline gelmiþtir. Salgýnda en önde çalýþan saðlýk personeli doktorlardýr. Bu çalýþma, birinci, ikinci ve üçüncü basamak hastanelerde çalýþan hekimlerin COVID-19 salgýný hakkýnda bilgi ve farkýndalýk düzeylerini belirlemek amacýyla yapýlmýþtýr.
YÖNTEM ve GEREÇLER: Kesitsel ve tanýmlayýcý bir araþtýrma olarak tasarlanan bu çalýþmaya Kayseri’de kamu hastanelerinde görev yapan tabip ve uzman tabipler dâhil edildi. 378 hekim ile elektronik ortamda anket çalýþmasý yapýldý. Hekimlerin sosyo-demografik özellikleri, meslek bilgileri, görev süreleri, COVID-19 salgýný ile ilgili bir eðitim alýp almadýklarý, virüsün mikrobiyolojik özellikleri ile ilgili sorular soruldu. Sonuçlarýn deðerlendirilmesi için istatistik anlamlýlýk düzeyi %5 olarak alýndý ve hesaplamalar için TURCOSA programý kullanýldý.
BULGULAR: Çalýþmaya katýlan 378 hekimin % 57,70’i erkek, % 42,30’u kadýndý. Hekimlerin medyan yaþý 35 (24-64) yýldý. Uzman hekimlerin pratisyenlere göre yaþlarý daha büyük ve görev süreleri daha uzundu.
Anketin yapýldýðý zamanda hekimlerin %47,80’i eðitim almýþ, %52,20’si eðitim almamýþtý.
Pratisyen hekimlerin bilgi düzeyi skoru medyaný 11 (7-17), uzman hekimlerin bilgi düzeyi skor medyaný ise 11 (5-16) olarak tespit edilmiþ olup, uzman ve pratisyen hekimler arasýnda bilgi düzeyi skoru açýsýndan anlamlý farklýlýk yoktu. Eðitim alanlar ile almayanlar arasýnda bilgi düzeyi skoru açýsýndan anlamlý bir farklýlýk vardý.
TARTIÞMA ve SONUÇ: Katýlan hekimlerin uzmanlýk alanlarýnýn COVID-19 hakkýnda farkýndalýk, üzerinde etkili olmadýðý asýl etkenin hekimlere verilen eðitimin olduðu görülmüþtür.