Levels of nurses' compliance with isolation precautions and affecting factors during the pandemic process

Nurses' adherence to isolation precautions is crucial during the pandemic as they are required to provide treatment and care to COVID-19 suspects or patients in all various areas such as clinics, intensive care units, and operating rooms. This study aimed to determine the level of adherence of nurses to isolation precautions during the pandemic and identify the influencing factors. This descriptive, correlational study was conducted on 274 nurses working at a university hospital between November 26, 2020 and April 15, 2021. The data was collected using a closed-envelope method and questionnaire technique, utilizing the "Questionnaire" and "Scale of Compliance with Isolation Precautions - SCIP". The analysis of the data involved the use of Independent Sample t-test and One-Way ANOVA for comparing multiple groups, Tukey test for post-hoc comparisons, and Pearson correlation analysis for exploring relationships. Prior to the research, permissions were obtained from the ethics committee and relevant institution. Informed consent forms were signed by the participants. The nurses participating in the study were between the ages of 20 and 53, with 69.7% being female. Their average professional experience was 2.19±0.61 years, and during the pandemic, 74.8% of them worked both day and night shifts. While 86.5% of the nurses received training on isolation precautions during the pandemic, 58.4% of them reported experiencing difficulties in adhering to isolation precautions. According to the self-assessments of the nurses who participated in our study, the mean scores of adherence to SCIP before the pandemic were 66.43±7.04, whereas after the pandemic, the scores increased to 70.44±5.59. The SCIP and sub-dimension scores of the nurses were significantly different before and after the pandemic (p<0.05). When examining whether there were differences in adherence to isolation precautions based on the characteristics of the nurses, it was found that there were differences based on age, gender, marital status, education level, professional experience, working in different clinics, working in shifts, permanent or contractual employment, working overtime, receiving training on isolation precautions, and experiencing difficulties in adhering to isolation precautions. However, there were no differences based on living with vulnerable groups such as children/elderly or acquisition of the COVID-19 disease (p>0,05). 41.2% of the nurses stated inadequate working conditions were the reason for difficulties in adhering to isolation precautions. 31.8% of nurses attributed the difficulties in adhering to isolation precautions to the high density of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients. 30.3% nurses identified the lack or absence of personal protective equipment as an influential factor, while 27.4% mentioned the absence of in-service training on isolation precautions during the pandemic. As a result of the study, it was determined that the level of compliance of nurses with isolation precautions increased during the pandemic process. Considering the factors that have been found to affect compliance with isolation measures, it is recommended to regulate and supervise work life conditions, to provide appropriate working conditions with corporate policies, to establish appropriate procedures in pandemic management and to update trainings on isolation precautions. Keywords: Compliance, isolation precautions, nurse, pandemic.