Knowledge and attitude evaluation of physicians and nurses on COVID-19

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of physician faculty members, nurses, and medical students who work in a hospital in Istanbul regarding COVID-19. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary hospital from March 2 to March 10, 2020. The research data were collected through a survey consisting of 22 questions about their demographics and their level of knowledge, sources of information, actions, attitudes, and thoughts about COVID-19. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0. RESULTS: Out of 1.460 people, 614 (42%) participated in this study. More than 60% of the participants correctly answered the information questions about COVID-19. 72.6% of the participants stated that the situation that would stress them out the most in case of a COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey would be the diagnosis of one of their family members with COVID-19. Social media (66.4%) was the primary source of information in this process. CONCLUSION: The findings obtained in this study showed that right before the outbreak, healthcare professionals were concerned and stressed about the inadequacy of protective measures and the possibility of transmission, although they were ready for the outbreak in the professional sense.