COVID-19: A National Survey on Perceived Level of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Frontline Medical Professionals in Nepal

Abstract

Background COVID-19 is currently recognized as an emerging public health problem caused by SARS-CoV-2. Thousands of people around the world have been infected since it appeared the very first time in Wuhan. For any epidemics, FMPs are at high risk of infection, and also become the vector for the disease transmission. Inadequate knowledge has been proven to be the causative factor for disease infection & transmission. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude & practice among FMPs, including doctors, nurses, and other paramedics working in the frontline in the different Hospitals in Nepal. Methods Non-probability convenience sampling technique was used in this cross-sectional study to collect data from 603 FMPs. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to assess the KAP of the FMPs. It was divided into 4-parts consisting of 31-items, demographic characteristics (11-items), knowledge (10-items), attitude (5-items), and practice (5-items). It consisted of both multiple-choice questions and Likert scale items questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results A majority of the participants (76%) reported adequate knowledge. Most of the demographic characteristics, except the place of work, showed significant association with knowledge. About 54.7% of the FMPs demonstrated a positive attitude. Some of the demographic characteristics such as; age, gender, level of education, profession, and online course regarding COVID-19 showed significant association with attitude. A large population (78.9%) displayed appropriate practice, while only two demographic characteristics, profession and online course regarding COVID-19, showed significant association. Pearson correlation showed a significant association between KAP at the level of p < 0.01. Conclusions There was a significant association between KAP among FMPs. The FMPs having higher education showed better knowledge and attitude, but the practice was not affected by their education level. Very few FMPs were involved in IPC training and online courses regarding COVID-19, and they displayed better KAP scores. A higher level of knowledge might be accountable for a better attitude and practice. So, FMPs need to be encouraged and motivated to update knowledge regularly. The government and stakeholders should arrange educational programs and training. Also, FMPs need to be encouraged to use official websites to acquire knowledge.

Preparedness Assessment of Physicians during Coronavirus Disease-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

“…The current study subjects had sufficient knowledge level toward COVID-19 IPC, where almost two-thirds of them scored above the cutoff point set at the mean which was 5.6 out of 6. Similar findings were revealed by a number of studies conducted to determine the KAP among different medical professionals; physicians, nurses, and other paramedics working in the frontline in hospitals, where their study respondents were considered to have sufficient knowledge toward COVID-19 IPC [35], [36], [37].…”

“…Accordingly, almost half of the physicians had positive attitude toward COVID-19 IPC as their mean attitude score was 24.9 (±2.8). Positive attitudes toward COVID-19 IPC among HCWs varied in similar studies, where two researches conducted at Nepal and Nigeria revealed that almost half of their study subjects and around two-thirds of their study population, respectively, had positive attitude toward COVID-19 IPC [34], [37]. However, in a different study conducted in Uganda, only one-quarter of the study subjects had positive attitude toward COVID-19 IPC [43].…”

Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), India

“…A higher level of knowledge is positively associated with the practice of preventive measures and attitudes are also positively associated with preventive behaviors. Nonetheless, the majority of these studies examined the direct effects of knowledge on practicing preventive behaviors ( Afzal et al, 2021 ; Alrubaiee et al, 2020 ; Lau et al, 2020 ; Tamang et al, 2020 ) or attitudes without investigating the indirect effects of knowledge on practices mediated by attitudes to explain the psychological mechanism underlying how individuals engage in behaviors based on their health knowledge. Little is known about the indirect influence of knowledge on practices via attitudes in the context of COVID-19.…”

The role of knowledge, attitudes, and health workers’ behavior in COVID19 pandemic preparedness at Aceh Pidie Jaya District, Indonesia

“…Health workers are at the forefront of dealing with COVID-19 and have an important role in controlling the disease. 1 Furthermore, direct service to patients, frequent exposure to pathogens, limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), mental stress, fatigue, long working hours, the nonproportionality of total health workers to the patients' increasing number, social stigma and psychological factors cause the workers to be at high risk of being infected with COVID-19. 2,3 In Indonesia, there are 878 health workers infected with COVID-19 based on data from Amnesty International until June 12 2020.…”

“…12,13 Previous studies have shown that the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of health workers in dealing with COVID19 pandemic have many differences. 1,[14][15][16] The high incidence of health workers' infection with the virus shows the need to analyze the relationship of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with preparedness to encounter the pandemic that could control morbidity and mortality rates, especially in Indonesia.…”