The knowledge levels and attitudes of anesthesia technicians about intubation of patients with positive or suspected coronavirus (COVID-19)

Abstract

Objective: Airway management is very important in COVID-19 infection, which was declared as a pandemic in March 2020 and is among the intensive contact procedures. Our aim in this study is to determine the knowledge levels and attitudes of anesthesia technicians about COVID-19 positive patients or endotracheal intubation using questionnaire questions we prepared. Methods: Anesthesia technicians who accepted to participate in the study were asked to fill in an online questionnaire that measures the level of knowledge about airway management in COVID-19 patients. Results: Statistical analysis was performed on the data of 341 participants. The mean age of the participants was 33.07±8.43 years. Those with a working experience of 0-5 years (27.3%) and those working in a public hospital (43.1%) constituted the majority of the participants. It was seen that the majority of the participants correctly answered the questions related to intubation and extubation. The proportion of participants whose awareness increased due to the survey was 58.1%. Participants reported that they were most concerned about the risk of contamination. Conclusion: We found that in COVID-19 positive or suspicious cases, the points to be considered in endotracheal intubation are well known by the majority of the participants and their awareness on this issue is high.