Examination of Belief Changes in Hand Hygiene of Healthcare Professionals During The Covid-19 Epidemic

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study was carried out to determine the conditions affecting the belief changes in hand hygiene of healthcare workers working in intensive care during the COVID-19 epidemic.

METHODS: This study was conducted in a descriptive phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research types. The universe of the research consisted of healthcare workers working in the intensive care unit during the COVID-19 outbreak. Diagnostic form and semi-structured interview form were used to collect data. Data were collected by face-to-face in-depth interview method without any time limitation. While data were collected with the diagnosis form and semi-structured interview form, detailed notes were taken by the researcher and recorded. In the breakdown of the data obtained in the research, descriptive analysis was performed within the framework of the themes created by coding, classifying and associating the data.

RESULTS: The study was conducted with 12 patients, six female and six male, aged between 21-43 years, with 1-16 years of intensive care unit experience. At the end of the analysis of the data, three themes and 6 sub-themes were determined. The themes of the study were (I) fear, (II) cleanliness, and (III) burnout.

CONCLUSION: The study provided important information about the changes in the beliefs of healthcare workers working in intensive care regarding hand hygiene during the COVID-19 outbreak. Health workers stated that they pay more attention to hand hygiene practices in order to protect themselves and their families, especially in the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, there are health workers who think that the environment is dirty and that they wash their hands to feel clean, as well as health workers who do not want to wash their hands to rest at home because they are sick.

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, Intensive Care, Hand Hygiene, Faith