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Evaluation of Turkish ophthalmologists awareness about novel coronavirus 19
Onur Furundaoturan1, Özlem Barut Selver1, Gülden Hakverdi2, Melis Palamar11Department of Ophthalmology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey2Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey
PURPOSE: To understand the objective and subjective awareness of ophthalmologists about novel coronavirus (nCov)-19 pandemic, the virus, the usage habits of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and sanitary products, also to measure their self-confidence during the pandemic.
METHODS: An anonymous, self-administered survey was emailed to Turkish ophthalmologists. It consisted of 4 parts to col-lect data about demography, the knowledge of nCov-19, the usage of PPE, and sanitation products. Relying on the answers to the survey, two groups were conducted as “well-informed” and “poorly-informed.” The volunteers were also divided into those who use PPE correctly and those who do not. The statistical evaluation, according to the characteristics of the par-ticipants, such as risk statements, workplaces, pandemic assignments, conducted subgroups, and age groups, was done.
RESULTS: Three-hundred and sixty-five ophthalmologists completed the survey. Three hundred ten (85%) volunteers consid-ered themselves at high risk, 209 (57%) were confident about taking all precautions. Only 200 (54.8%) participants declared to have enough knowledge about ocular involvement, only 88 (24.1%) of them felt confident enough at daily practice. Es-pecially who had pandemic assignment was the most pessimist. Younger ophthalmologists and the residents stated using insufficient PPE. Two hundred twenty-nine (62.7%) volunteers were well-informed and 245 (67.3%) of them use PPE correctly. Most of the participants (166, 45.4%) did not have sufficient information about the sanitation agents.
CONCLUSION: Ophthalmologists should be careful during daily practice due to the intimate nature of the examination. Most of the participants declared themselves at high risk, especially who had a pandemic assignment. Particularly, younger vol-unteers were not confident about taking enough precautions. The knowledge about the virus, PPE, and sanitation products was insufficient.
Manuscript Language: English
