PRACTICES AND PERCEPTION TOWARD MEDICATION USAGE FOR THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE-2019 AMONG PEDIATRIC NURSES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly become a global human health threat.Pediatric nurses are best qualified to be a trustworthy source of accurate health information for children.It is mandatory to consider the practice and perception of a very unique category of nurses.This study was conducted to evaluate the practices and perception of pediatric nurses regarding medication usage for COVID-19.A cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire was distributed among pediatric nurses ( n=92) via corporate e-mail and other social media channels (WhatsApp and Instagram) in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey.The analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 22 (IBM Corp. USA).Data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics.The personal selfmedication was 13% (n=12) and multivitamin usage was increased from 17.4 % (n=16) before the COVID-19 to 29.3% (n=27) during COVID-19 among the participants.Almost, 55.4% (n=51), 51% (n=47), 48.9% (n=45), 7.6% (n=7) and 3.2% (n=3) of the respondents advocate the usage of antibiotics, antimalarial, multivitamins, herbal products and complementary and alternative medicines respectively for COVID-19 treatment.Majority of the participants (63%; n=58) had desire for more knowledge and additional education about COVID-19 medication.This study found that some pediatric nurses involved in non-evidence-based medication practices and a divergent beliefs was also observed.Continued medical education, awareness-raising training and campaigns are required for this unique category of nurses.