ABSTRACT
Introduction: In-service healthcare personnel training is an ongoing process. However, emerging unknowns require momentary planning. The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has made distance training (DT) compulsory for healthcare employees (HE). Thus, it is important to learn about their interest levels. This study investigates the interest of HE in DT during the pandemic process. Methods: The research population consisted of 3,442 personnel registered to take the "HE COVID-19" training at research and training hospital in 2020. The population of the study consisted of all personnel employed at research and training hospital and registered for the training. The study was planned retrospectively for reaching all personnel whose training registrations were made between 17.03.2020 and 15.04.2020. This study was used the data of the personnel who completed the "HE COVID-19 Training" within the scope of the announcements that were made as DT as reported on the Hospital Training System. Results: The total training completion rate of the participants was found to be 90%. When the interests of the HE in the DT in the process of the COVID-19 pandemic were compared, no statistically significant difference could be observed in the participation rates of the specialist doctors, resident doctors, and nurses (p=0.094). The rate of the resident doctors to complete the training until the second announcement was significantly lower compared to the specialist doctors and nurses (specialist doctor vs. resident doctor p=0.044;nurse vs. resident doctor p<0.001). The rates of completing the training after two announcements were significantly higher among the resident doctors than the specialist doctors and nurses and among the specialist doctors than the nurses (respectively p=0.018, p<0.001, p=0.018). Conclusion: Continuous training must ensure that HE are adequately prepared to deal with public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. DT should be prioritized in the Emergency Action Plan.