Knowledge and opinions of healthcare workers about Legionnaires' disease

Abstract

Broj slučajeva legionarske bolesti u svijetu se značajno povećao u zadnjem desetljeću te je taj trend i danas prisutan. Legionarska bolest je karakterizirana vrlo nespecifičnim znakovima od strane dišnog sustava (upala pluća s općim znakovima infekcije uzrokovana bakterijom Legionella pneumophila), te je važno povećati svijest o mogućnosti njene pojave, kako bi se kod sumnje na pojavu legionarske bolesti provelo testiranje i tako spriječilo daljnje širenje bolesti iz nekog izvora. Svrha ovog istraživanja je utvrditi znanje zdravstvenih djelatnika/ca Republike Hrvatske o legionarskoj bolest. Provedenim se istraživanjem željelo ustanoviti u kojoj su mjeri zdravstveni djelatnici upoznati sa uzročnikom, načinima širenja, simptomima, kliničkom slikom, dijagnostičkim pretragama i drugim specifičnostima legionarske bolesti; te kakav stav imaju prema toj bolesti, ovisno o socio-demografskoj grupaciji kojoj pripadaju. Rezultati prikupljeni od gotovo 200 zdravstvenih djelatnika/ca pokazuju da zdravstveni djelatnici zaposleni na različitim razinama sustava zdravstvene zaštite se ne razlikuju statistički značajno u razini znanja o legionarskoj bolesti no da je ta razina relativno niska te da pogrešno identificiraju osnovne simptome legionarske bolesti, dok polovica ne zna koji dijagnostički testovi nedvojbeno ukazuju na legionarsku bolest. Niska razina znanja o uzročniku i glavnim značajkama legionarske bolesti, čini slabo vjerojatnim da će se bolest na vrijeme uočiti i spriječiti njeno daljnje širenje u populaciji. Stoga je potrebno poduzeti dodatne napore kako bi se znanja o legionarskoj bolesti jasno prikazala zdravstvenim djelatnicima, kako bi temeljem tog znanja djelovali u svojoj sredini i prepoznavanjem pojave bolesti, osigurali ispravnu dijagnostiku, pravovremeno i liječenje i skrb o oboljelome. Istodobno, zdravstveni djelatnici s visokom razinom znanja o uvjetima razmnožavanja legionela (temperaturni raspon), načinima širenja (aerosolima iz sustava klimatizacije i vodovodnog sustava, bez izravnog prijenosa među ljudima) i predisponirajućim čimbenicima mogu djelotvorno utjecati na sprječavanje daljnjih slučajeva i širenje legionarske bolesti.The number of cases of Legionnaires' disease in the world has increased significantly in the last decade, and this trend is still present today. Legionnaires' disease is characterized by very non-specific signs of the respiratory system (pneumonia with general signs of infection caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila), and it is important to increase awareness of the possibility of its occurrence, so that if Legionnaires' disease is suspected, testing can be carried out and thus prevent further spread of the disease from some source. The purpose of this research is to determine the knowledge of healthcare workers in the Republic of Croatia about Legionnaires' disease. The research aimed to determine the extent to which healthcare workers are familiar with the causative agent, modes of spread, symptoms, clinical picture, diagnostic tests and other specific features of Legionnaires' disease; and what their attitude towards the disease is, depending on the socio-demographic group to which they belong. The results collected from almost 200 healthcare professionals show that healthcare professionals employed at different levels of the healthcare system do not differ statistically significantly in their level of knowledge about Legionnaires' disease, but that this level is relatively low and that they incorrectly identify the basic symptoms of Legionnaires' disease, while half of them do not know which diagnostic tests unequivocally indicate Legionnaires' disease. The low level of knowledge about the causative agent and the main features of Legionnaires' disease makes it unlikely that the disease will be detected in time and its further spread in the population will be prevented. Therefore, additional efforts are needed to clearly present knowledge about Legionnaires' disease to healthcare professionals, so that they can act on the basis of this knowledge in their environment and by recognizing the occurrence of the disease, ensure correct diagnosis, timely treatment and care for the patient. At the same time, healthcare professionals with a high level of knowledge about the conditions for the reproduction of Legionella (temperature range), the ways of spread (aerosols from air conditioning and water systems, without direct transmission between people) and predisposing factors can effectively influence the prevention of further cases and the spread of Legionnaires' disease