Evaluation of Status of Getting ill with SARS CoV-2 and the Knowledge of Using and Attitudes of Personal Protective Equipment at Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Services Employees

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge level of healthcare personnel working in pre-hospital emergency care services in Konya province regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. Material and Methods: A total of 410 healthcare personnel working in pre-emergency care services in Konya province were included in the study. The data were collected through a questionnaire developed by the researcher inquiring about the demographic data, whether they caught (COVID-19) or not, knowledge about COVID-19, and knowledge and attitudes regarding the use of PPE. Results: The rate of individuals who experienced mild infection was 27.1%, and those who experienced severe disease were 5.6%. It was determined that 83.7% of the healthcare personnel were using PPE. The most commonly used PPE were gloves (90.8%), and the least were visors and eyeglasses (43.8%). When the frequency of the COVID-19 symptoms was analyzed according to age, the symptoms were more frequent in the age group of 40 years and above, and the symptom frequencies were seen to increase with age. Conclusion: It was concluded that the healthcare personnel had received in-service training about COVID-19 and had sufficient knowledge. The rate of PPE use was high, and there was no difference between males and females in catching COVID-19 infection.