The example of Ankara in pandemic communications “COVID-19 Crisis Centers” Pandemi iletişiminde Ankara örneği “COVID-19 Kriz Merkezleri”

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Şİmşek A. Ç., Kotanoğlu M. S., Gül H., Çakmak D., Musaonbaşioğlu S., Bulut Y. E., ...More

Turk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji Dergisi, vol.80, no.2, pp.159-170, 2023 (Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 80 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.5505/turkhijyen.2023.54280
  • Journal Name: Turk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji Dergisi
  • Journal Indexes: Scopus, Academic Search Premier, CAB Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Page Numbers: pp.159-170
  • Keywords: call handling, COVID-19 pandemic, infodemic, pandemic communication
  • Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
  • Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Objective: After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus epidemic as the “COVID-19 pandemic” on March 11, 2020; the COVID-19 Call Center was established on March 15, 2020 within the Ankara Provincial Health Directorate. It was aimed to evaluate the works of the COVID-19 Call Center, which was one of the call centers established to answer questions from our citizens and to serve 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in this study. Methods: The data of our descriptive study was collected between January 01, 2021 and December 31, 2021, and statistical evaluation, number and percentage distributions were made with Google Drive software reports. Results: Information about COVID-19 vaccines was requested in 5% of the calls incoming to the COVID-19 Call Center, 34% of the callers were contacts and 39% were positive cases. 25.39% of the calls were for PCR testing, 20.45% for information about the disease and 15.04% for information about the quarantine process. 18.514 cases (2.51%) whose conditions evaluated as emergency were referred to the hospitals by ambulance. Conclusion: It is necessary to gain the trust of the public by transmitting accurate, understandable and easily accessible information for epidemic management. The Ankara Provincial Health Directorate COVID-19 Call Center, which was created for this purpose, continues to contribute to the acquisition of accurate information by means of verbal communication by reaching the 7/24 at any time of the day.