Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences

.: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Level of Information and Awareness of Healthcare Workers on Bioterrorism Agents
Sağlık Çalışanlarının Biyoterörist Ajanlarla İlgili Bilgi ve Farkındalık Düzeyi
Şükriye KARADAYIa, Nurdan SEZGİNb, Beytullah KARADAYIc
aAltinbas University, Vocational School of Health Services,
bIstanbul Aydin University, Vocational School of Health Services,
cDepartment of Forensic Sciences, Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, TURKEY
Turkiye Klinikleri J Foren Sci Leg Med. 2019;16(1):45-53
doi: 10.5336/forensic.2018-61790
Article Language: EN
Full Text
ABSTRACT
 Objective: The masses can be affected both mentally and physically even though biological agents are used in the narrow context for the purpose of bioterrorist attack. It is important to have trained and experienced health workers whose mission and responsibility is to identify biological agents rapidly and control them before they turn into epidemic. This research aims to investigate the personnel's knowledge and awareness about bioterrorist activities working in the public health laboratories and increase awareness by stressing the importance of topic. Material and Methods: This research was performed between October and December 2017 on 162 volunteers who have bachelor's and undergraduate degree and work in various occupations in public health laboratories by a 21-item questionnaire. Questionnaires applied by using face-to-face interview method, and the data were evaluated with descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis. Results: When asked the level of knowledge about bioterrorism, 25.9% of participants stated that they have information about bioterrorism agents, while 18.5% don't have information and 55.6% have partial information. Only 6.8% of the respondents considered the trainings, which they received about bioterrorism, are adequate. While 91.4% of the respondents thought that the bioterrorist agents were important risk factors for Turkey, and 58% of them stated that the most dangerous biological agent is Bacillus anthracis. Conclusion: Evaluation results show that health personnel who work in the public health laboratories had lack of knowledge on some certain topics and unawareness in the field of bioterrorism. It is believed that inside training programs about bioterrorism will be useful to resolve the lack of information and to create awareness for health personnel. Besides bio-security information should be disseminated.

Keywords: Bioterrorism; biological agents; public health
ÖZET
 Amaç: Biyoterörist saldırı amacıyla kullanılan biyolojik ajanlar dar kapsamda kullanılsalar da kitleler, hem ruhsal hem de fiziksel olarak etkilenebilirler. Biyolojik ajanın çok hızlı tanınmasında ve salgın haline dönüşmeden kontrolünde görev ve sorumlulukları bulunan sağlık çalışanlarının eğitimli ve donanımlı olması büyük önem taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmada halk sağlığı laboratuvarlarında çalışanların biyoterörist ajanlarla ilgili bilgi ve farkındalık düzeylerinin araştırılması ve konunun önemine vurgu yapılarak farkındalığın arttırılması amaçlanmaktadır. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Bu araştırma, Ekim ve Aralık 2017 arasında, halk sağlığı laboratuvarlarında çeşitli mesleklerde çalışan ön lisans ve lisans derecesine sahip 162 gönüllüye uygulanan 21 maddelik bir anket formu ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Anketler yüz yüze görüşme yöntemi kullanılarak uygulandı ve elde edilen veriler tanımlayıcı istatistik ve ki-kare analizi ile değerlendirildi. Bulgular: Katılımcılara biyoterörizm hakkındaki bilgi düzeyleri ile ilgili soru yöneltildiğinde, %25.9'u biyoterörizm ajanları ile ilgili bilgi sahibi olduğunu; %18.5'i bilgi sahibi olmadığını bildirirken, %55.6'sı ise konuyla ilgili kısmen bilgiye sahip olduğunu belirtmiştir. Biyoterörizm konusunda aldıkları eğitimleri katılımcıların sadece %6,8'i yeterli görmektedir. Katılımcıların %91,4?ü biyoterörist ajanların Türkiye için önemli bir risk unsuru olduğunu düşünürken en tehlikeli biyolojik ajanın %58 oranında Bacillus anthracis olduğunu ifade etmişlerdir. Sonuç: Çalışma sonuçları değerlendirildiğinde halk sağlığı laboratuvarlarında çalışan sağlık personelinin biyoterörizm konusunda bazı bilgi ve tutum eksikliklerinin olduğu görülmüştür. Biyoterörizm ile ilgili olarak sağlık personelinin bilgi eksiklerinin giderilmesi ve bu konuda farkındalık oluşturmak için planlanacak hizmet içi eğitim programlarının faydalı olacağı düşünülmüştür. Ayrıca biyogüvenlik bilgisi de yaygınlaştırılmalıdır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Biyoterörizm; biyolojik ajanlar; halk sağlığı
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