ATTITUDE & BELIEF OF HEATH CARE WORKERS TOWARDS HYDROXYCHOLOROQUINE CHEMOPROPHYLAXIS VERSUS PERSONAL HYGIENE PRACTICES IN EARLY PHASE OF COVID 19 PANDEMIC – A WEB BASED SURVEY IN PRE-VACCINE TIME.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the attitude & beliefs of Health Care Workers (HCWs) regarding personal hygiene practices & hydroxycholoroquine chemoprophylaxis as a preventive measure of COVID-19 infection. Design: Predesigned & validated survey proforma was circulated among individual as well as groups of HCWs through social-media from a period th th of 9 May to 30 June and responders who completed full questionnaire were included in the analysis Setting: The study was a web based survey among HCWs belonging to Public or Government hospital, private tertiary care hospitals having >50 beds & nursing home with 1-50 beds. Participants: The study included HCWs of >18 years of age consisting of doctors, nurses, allied health care professionals who completed the survey. Result: Among total 262 responders 123(46.95%) were attending/visiting COVID-19 cases directly during the survey.Total166 (63.36%) doctors, 80 (30.53%) nurses,3 (1.15%) house-keeping and rest from other category participated in the survey. All responders (100%) adopted at least one or multiple methods of personal hygiene for infection control Having shower after duty and using hand sanitizer were most commonly preferred practices among HCWs. Only 88 (33.59%) responders had taken Hydroxychloroquine at the time of survey and majority 172 (65.65%) deferred any kind of chemoprophylaxis. Majority 227 (86.64%) practiced some precaution at their staying place as well. Conclusion: During early pandemic majority of the Indian HCWs had a higher attitude and belief towards personal hygiene as the best preventive measure towards COVID-19 infection rather than belief on hydroxychloroquine chemoprophylaxis which is still advised for caregivers and close contacts in existing national guideline.