Evaluation of Knowledge Levels of Nurses about Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever and their Attitudes towards Patients

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to evaluate the knowledge levels of nurses about Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) and their attitudes towards patients with CCHF. Method: This study was conducted with 315 nurses working in Erzurum Regional Education and Research Hospital. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The SPSS 22 package program was used for the analysis of the data. Results: The nurses were found to have a high level of general knowledge about the disease (27.55±4.29), and their level of knowledge about the treatment of the disease (2.19±.894) and laboratory findings (1.35±.717) was found to be lower compared to other categories. While there was no significant difference between gender, education level and the working unit in terms of the total knowledge level (p>0.05), the level of knowledge was found to increase with increasing age and professional seniority (p<0.05). Of the nurses, 55.6% stated that they did not prefer to provide care for CCHF patients, and 57.5% did not want to be in the same environment with them. Of the participants, 94.6% stated that providing care for a patient with CCHF increases their occupational risk, and 79.0% stated that they were still afraid of being infected, despite knowing the ways of transmission. Conclusion: The knowledge level of nurses in the categories of treatment and laboratory findings for CCHF disease was lower, and their overall level of knowledge was found to increase as age and professional experience increases. In addition, nurses were found to be afraid of having CCHF disease, and prefer not to provide care for these patients.

Keywords

• nursing
• attitude
• viral haemorrhagic fever