Objective: To examine the effects of a pandemic on children’s routine vaccination between 0 months and 24 months and to determine the affecting factors on vaccination during the pandemic. Materials and Methods: Our study was conducted between July 17, 2020, and August 1, 2020, among 513 mothers whose children were aged between 0 months and 24 months old. A total of 21 questions were asked to participants’ sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes and behaviors towards pediatric vaccines during the pandemic. Results: The rate of vaccination for children was 82.8% (n = 425), unvaccinated children was 3.9% (n = 1). 13.3% (n = 68) of vaccinated children had “delayed” vaccination. 76.2% (n = 391) of the participants stated “they were concerned about COVID-19 infection’’ while visiting a healthcare center for vaccination. The 3 most common affecting factors for vaccination; 43.9% (n = 340 ) “pediatric vaccines are vital and must be administered,” 23.6% (n = 183) they had vaccine appointment and have been informed “vaccination service would continue as usual,” 22.7% (n = 176 ) have been informed that “required precautions have been taken”. It was found that reasons for not to be vaccinated in the pandemic; 63.2% (n = 12) “fear of COVID-19,” 15.8% (n = 3) “quarantined as the whole family” and 10.5% (n = 2) “vaccine hesitancy.” Conclusion: Healthcare providers should inform parents that vaccination is vital, and vaccination must always be administered on time during a pandemic. During a pandemic, continuing appointments for vaccination services, calling to inform the parents that required precautions to minimize the spread of infection have already been taken, and alleviating parents’ concerns would prevent vaccination rates from decreasing in this period. Cite this article as: Baktır Altuntaş S, Kara Elitok G. Routine pediatric vaccination during pandemic: attitudes of parents. Turk Arch Pediatr. 2022;57(3):342-348.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of family physicians and pediatricians in regard to adolescent immunization. Methods: The study was conducted from March to May 2017. A total of 665 physicians participated. Participants were asked 31 questions about their personal sociodemographic characteristics and their knowledge, attitudes, and practices around adolescent immunization. Results: The study sample consisted of 348 family physicians (52.3% of the sample) and 317 pediatricians (47.7%). The results showed that 5.4% of family physicians and 10.4% of pediatricians thought that they had enough knowledge about adolescent immunization (p < .01). Overall, 15.8% of family physicians and 12.7% of pediatricians provided adolescents with information about vaccines ‘always/most of the time’. A variety of reasons for not providing information about adolescent vaccines was provided, including ‘inability to allocate time’ (50.2% of family physicians, 69.3% of pediatricians); ‘forgetfulness’ (34.8% of family physicians, 28.5% of pediatricians); ‘lack of knowledge about vaccines’ (34.1% of family physicians, 27.4% of pediatricians); and ‘no need to immunize adolescents’ (15.7% of family physicians, 6.5% of pediatricians) (p < .01). HPV immunization was recommended only to girls by 30.5% of family physicians and 38.8% of pediatricians (p < .01). The percentages of family physicians and pediatricians not recommending that adolescents be immunized with the Tdap vaccine were 53.4% and 42.6%, respectively (p = .016). Meningococcal immunization was not recommended by 20.7% of family physicians and 11.4% of pediatricians (p < .01), and influenza immunization was not recommended by 10.3% of family physicians and 8.2% of pediatricians (p < .01). Conclusion: Family physicians and pediatricians in Turkey have low rates of recommendation of immunization to adolescents. Reasons for not recommending immunization include an inability to allocate time, forgetfulness, and lack of knowledge about vaccines. We conclude that educational programs should be used to improve knowledge of adolescent immunization among family physicians and pediatricians.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science and engineering with abilities required by human intelligence. One of the most important usage areas of AI is the health sector. From the areas of public health promotion such as air pollution epidemiology, elderly care and monitoring to rapid diagnosis and treatment, from surgery to drug production and neuroscience by analyzing a lot of data from patient records; It offers a wide range of usage opportunities such as monitoring individuals at risk with suicidal tendencies. With AI smart applications, practices such as first aid and resuscitation on patients in the training processes of health professionals have started to be applied more intensively. Strengthening education with these practices provides students with more application opportunities with AI applications in patient follow-up and care services education in health education. Vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, fever monitoring of virtual patients, virtual vascular access, and blood drawing have become common methods in healthcare professional training. In the training of health professionals, the processes of possible harm to the patients are thus tried to be minimized.

Aims to describe the initial symptoms most related to the prognosis of Covid-19. This is a retrospective cross sectional, quantitative, data analyzed study. This study was made in the family medicine centers (n = 82) of Çorlu district of Tekirdağ province, in Turkey. The study included patients (n = 1.506) who had a positive PCR test for Covid-19 from March to September 2020. And we asked them their initial symptoms which bring them to the family medicine centers before the test. The participants’ age, gender, presence of chronic disease, and initial symptoms which they come to a healthcare facility were evaluated. These variables were analyzed in terms of length of hospital stay, intensive care unit admission and mortality rates. The most common initial symptom in Covid-19 patients was cough. The presence of a chronic disease, the shortness of breath, malaise, the loss of smell and taste, and vomiting were found to be associated with an increased mortality rate. Advanced age, the presence of cough, malaise, the loss of smell and taste, and vomiting as the initial symptoms were found to have increased the likelihood of being admitted to the intensive care unit. The authors advise placing more attention on the initial symptoms of cough, malaise, the loss of smell and taste and vomiting in Covid-19 patients. Because these symptoms are related with severe prognosis indicators.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the anxiety level of smokers and the relationship between smoking behavior and COVID-19 anxiety level. Methods: Our study was planned as a descriptive cross-sectional survey. A 32-question...

Objectives: Palliative care patients struggle to cope with many symptoms. Malnutrition and dehydration may develop either as a consequence of the disease itself or as a result of its treatment. Parenteral methods, such as the intravenous method, are advanced treatment options, but sometimes patients experience problems related to venous depletion. Although hypodermoclysis (HDC) has been known for a long time, it is often overlooked in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to analyse the clinical differences between the HDC method and the intravenous hydration method. Methods: This prospective, randomised clinical trial was conducted with patients treated at a Palliative Care Centre. Thirty-one patients with symptoms of venous depletion constituted the study group, while 30 patients with no venous depletion constituted the control group. After training the nurses at the Centre on the HDC method, rehydration therapy was initiated in both groups, and patient characteristics, infusion indications, the application time for both methods, infusion duration and complications were examined and analysed. Results: Complications were observed at a rate of 12.9% in the study group, compared with 36.7% in the control group. The preparation time for the HDC in the study group was 2.13±0.56 min, while in the control group, it was 8.5±4.76 min. The cost in the study group was 114.93±0 Turkish Lira, while in the control group, it was 141.73±0.05 Turkish Lira. Conclusions: The HDC method was found to be easier to perform by healthcare professionals, caused fewer complications and was less expensive than the intravenous fluid infusion method. Further prospective studies are needed.