Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of medical students towards COVID19 in Sudan, 2020: A cross sectional study among 19 universities

Abstract

Introduction: Since December 2019, an outbreak of severe respiratory infection (COVID-19) emerged in the city of Wuhan in China. It quickly spread around the world and is now a pandemic of epic proportions. Medical students are the future generation of doctors who will have to face this and any future similar catastrophe. The knowledge, awareness and practice of medical students toward Covid19 pandemic is of most importance as it demonstrates their preparedness to deal with this pandemic.Objective: To assess the knowledge, awareness and practice of medical students in 19 universities in Sudan about COVID 19.Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study done in 19 universities which have medical schools in Sudan. Data from at least 100 medical students from each university was included in the study. Data was collected using an online questionnaire in April 2020.Results: 2603 medical students from 19 universities were included. Overall good knowledge and practice were demonstrated by the medical students (88.9%) and (78.6%), respectively. Respondents answered that the most common clinical symptoms of COVID-19 were fever (51.9%), dry cough (40.5%). The main combination of clinical symptoms was dry cough, fatigue and fever in (27.7%), and the first initial symptom was headache (48.4%.).(60.2%) wear medical masks, (94.9%) said that avoiding crowded places protects against the spread of Covid19. (50.9%) have confidence that Sudan can win the battle against the COVID-19 with (48.6%) amongst males and (52.2%) amongst females. 69.0% agreed that COVID-19 will finally be successfully controlled.Conclusion: This study showed that medical students in Sudan demonstrated excellent Knowledge and good practice toward Covid19.Recommendations: Although the results were very positive, further education and awareness should be carried out to increase the preparedness of medical students towards such pandemics and public health modules should also focus more on the importance of the knowledge of newly emerging diseases and the practices toward them.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of COVID-19 among Benha Health Technical Institute Students

“…[11] revealed that 83.7 % and 92.2% of early years and final years students respectively correctly knew the asymptomatic nature of the disease. A cross-sectional study from Sudan [17], reported that only 27.7% knew the main combination of clinical symptoms of the disease. While [18], an Indian study, explained that only 39.7% of students knew the asymptomatic nature of the disease.…”

“…[13], [33] stated that 91.0% and 98.7% of students respectively wear N95 masks frequently. Also, a study from Sudan showed that 72.6% of medical students identified that wearing masks during work in the hospital protects against the spread of the virus [17]. While [18] clarified that 73.15 % of students thought that wearing a surgical mask can protect people from COVID-19.…”