{"title":"Paramedics’ knowledge of medical guidelines and procedures for protection against coronavirus\u0000during the COVID-19 pandemic: a pilot study","authors":"Szymon Dorowski, Katarzyna Szwamel","doi":"10.5604/01.3001.0015.5261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0015.5261","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Paramedics are the frontline workers of the healthcare profession. Thus, they need to be\u0000equipped with the relevant knowledge, skills, and protective gear against different forms of infection, including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).\u0000Aim of the study: To determine the level of paramedics’ knowledge about implementing medical guidelines\u0000and procedures to avoid coronavirus infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u0000Material and methods: This study involved 101 paramedics employed in Emergency Medical Services in\u0000Legnica between November 2020 and January 2021. A diagnostic survey method and opinion polling technique were applied. A survey developed by the study authors was used.\u0000Results: Overall, 38 (37.62%) paramedics had sufficient knowledge of medical guidelines and procedures\u0000preventing coronavirus infection, 28 (27.72%) had good knowledge, 23 (22.77%) had very good knowledge,\u0000and 12 (11.88%) had insufficient knowledge of the topic. Variables such as education (p=0.305), participation in any course on COVID-19 (p=0.650), frequency of emergency services for patients suspected to have\u0000COVID-19 infection or with confirmed COVID-19 infection (p=0.116), and job seniority (p=0.984) did not\u0000have a significant influence on interviewees’ knowledge of this topic.\u0000Conclusions: There is a need for organizing courses, workshops, or training events for paramedics concerning the code of conduct and good practice while working with patients who suffer from highly infectious\u0000diseases in order to improve safety in the work environment. It is particularly important as paramedics themselves opted to organize such courses. It is recommended that before organizing the course, one should obtain information from potential participants about the preferred format of the course.\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":32604,"journal":{"name":"Medical Science Pulse","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47725788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}