Evaluation of COVID-19 related knowledge and preparedness in health professionals at selected health facilities in a resource-limited setting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background The World Health Organization has declared that infection with SARS-CoV-2 is a pandemic. Experiences with SARS in 2003 and SARS-CoV-2 have shown that health professionals are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Hence, it has been recommended that aperiodic wide-scale assessment of the knowledge and preparedness of health professionals regarding the current COVID-19 pandemic is critical. Objectives This study aimed to assess the knowledge and preparedness of health professionals regarding COVID-19 among selected hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from the last week of March to early April, 2020. Government (n = 6) and private hospitals (n = 4) were included. The front-line participants with high exposure were proportionally recruited from their departments. The collected data from a self-administered questionnaire were entered using EpiData and analyzed in SPSS software. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (chi-square tests) are presented. Results A total of 1334 health professionals participated in the study. The majority (675, 50.7%) of the participants were female. Of the total, 532 (39.9%) subjects were nurses/midwives, followed by doctors (397, 29.8%) and pharmacists (193, 14.5%). Of these, one-third had received formal training on COVID-19. The mean knowledge score of participants was 16.45 (±4.4). Regarding knowledge about COVID-19, 783 (58.7%), 354 (26.5%), and 196 (14.7%) participants had moderate, good, and poor knowledge, respectively. Lower scores were seen in younger age groups, females, and non-physicians. Two-thirds (63.2%) of the subjects responded that they had been updated by their hospital on COVID-19. Of the total, 1020 (76.5%) participants responded that television, radio, and newspapers were their primary sources of information. Established hospital preparedness measures were confirmed by 43–57% of participants. Conclusion The current study revealed that health professionals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, already know important facts but had moderate overall knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic. There were unmet needs in younger age groups, non-physicians, and females. Half of the respondents mentioning inadequate preparedness of their hospitals point to the need for more global solidarity, especially concerning the shortage of consumables and lack of equipment.

The COVID-19 pandemic and healthcare systems in Africa: a scoping review of preparedness, impact and response

“…A study from Ethiopia showed that half (50%) of the healthcare providers were not satisfied with the available medical equipment for COVID-19 treatment in their hospitals. 33 A global study that included African countries also reported that over half (53%) of healthcare workers working in maternal and neonatal health service provisions in low/middle-income countries did not receive updated guidelines for the management of COVID-19. 42 …”

“…The study from Ethiopia showed that healthcare workers generally had moderate knowledge on detection and management of COVID-19. 33 Another study showed limited understanding of case definition, identification of high-risk patients, tests appropriate to identify suspected cases and lack of adequate preventive measures to minimise transmission. 42 In this study, only 15% of the participants perceived that they had complete knowledge to provide maternity care to patients with COVID-19.…”

Factors associated with knowledge, attitudes and preventive practices towards COVID-19 in health care professionals in Lima, Peru

“…Socio-demographic Issues in adequate implementation of public health measures 21,22,23 ○ Furthermore, Peru is leading some interesting aspects compared to Latin America in the implementation of telemedicine 24,25,26,27 ○…”

Hospitals’ and Nurses’ Preparedness to COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Inadequacy in such preparedness was represented mainly in scarcity of the equipment and medications [3][4][5] , inadequate staffing, and improper hospitals' infrastructure [5][6][7][8] Another important factor in determining the preparedness of health care systems was nurses' knowledge about COVID-19 case definition and treatment. Unfortunately, many prior studies showed that knowledge deficit, reliance on social media to get information about COVID-19, and inadequate scientific training programs on COVID-19 management, contributed considerably to improper care of clients with COVID-19 disease [3][4][5][6][9][10][11] . Inadequate knowledge about COVID-19 was suggested to be a significant contributor to exaggerated feeling of fear, anxiety, psychological distresses, in addition to low self-confidence and low self-esteem, and therefore complicating the mitigation efforts of COVID-19 aftermath [12] .…”