Objective: We aimed to evaluate the spread of COVID-19 among healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19 at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic and to draw attention to the importance of the correct and effective use of personal protective equipment. Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study. The research universe consisted of healthcare workers and administrative and technical personnel working at a university hospital who were diagnosed with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic. The sample consisted of 100 healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19 and agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected between 10 June – 30 July 2020. The “Evaluation of the Transmission Status of Healthcare Workers Diagnosed with COVID-19 Questionnaire” questionnaire, which included questions about demographic and disease information, COVID-19 transmission, and personal protective equipment usage parameters, was used as the data collection tool. The questionnaire was filled face to face or by telephone calls by the researchers. Results: Of the participants, 41% stated that they had never worked in the COVID unit, 33% worked only on duty in the COVID unit, and 26% stated that they constantly worked in the COVID unit; 32% had contact with a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 14 days. Regarding the use of personal protective equipment, 51% stated that they did not have any problems, and 52% stated that they had not received any training. Conclusion: Frontline healthcare workers can be infected during the pandemic. Inadequacies in the use of personal protective equipment, omissions, failure to carry out systematic training and practices, and neglecting the use of protective equipment in social environments increase the risk of transmission.

AimThis study investigated the relationship between nurses' critical thinking skills and job performance and whether critical thinking and its subdomains predict job performance.BackgroundIt is expected that nurses may use critical thinking skills to provide evidence‐based quality patient care in health care settings. However, there is limited evidence about whether critical thinking is related to job performance among nurses.DesignThis was a descriptive, cross‐sectional survey study.MethodsThe study included 368 nurses working in the inpatient wards of a university hospital in Turkey. The survey included a demographic information questionnaire, the Critical Thinking Scale in Clinical Practice for Nurses and the Nurses' Job Performance Scale. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics, comparisons, reliability and normality tests, correlation and regression analysis.ResultsParticipating nurses got average scores from the critical thinking and job performance scale and sub‐scales, and there was a positive, mid‐level and statistically significant correlation between the scale scores. According to the multiple linear regression analysis results, personal critical thinking, interpersonal and self‐management critical thinking and the total critical thinking scores positively affected the job performance scores of nurses.ConclusionAs critical thinking predicts nurses' job performance, managers of hospitals and nursing services should consider training programs or activities to increase nurses' essential thinking competencies, thus improving clinical nurses' performances.