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

Abstract

Background The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice(KAP) regarding the COVID-19 among frontline healthcare workers (F-HCWs) working at different hospitals in Nepal and to identify the factors significantly associated with KAP.Methods We used a web-based survey, and a convenience sampling method was adopted to collect data from 603 F-HCWs working at different hospitals in Nepal during the first week of June 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to assess the KAP perceived by the F-HCWs. It was divided into 4-parts consisting of 30-items, demographic characteristics (10-items), knowledge (10-items), attitude (5-items), and practice (5-items). It consisted of both multiple-choice questions and Likert scale items questionnaire. Results Among the participants, 76% reported adequate knowledge, 54.7% reported positive attitude, and 78.9% reported appropriate practice. Statistically significant differences regarding the perceived level of knowledge among F-HCWs were observed among independent variables, including age, gender, level of education, marital status, profession, work experience, source of information, infection prevention and control (IPC) training, and online course(p<0.05). Similarly, statistically significant differences regarding the attitude among F-HCWs were observed among independent variables, including age, gender, level of education, profession, and online course(p<0.05). Moreover, only 2-independent variables, including the profession and online course, showed statistically significant differences with practice(p<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed a significant association between knowledge, attitude and practice at the level of p=0.01. The factors significantly associated with adequate knowledge were male gender, nurse and doctor, websites and IPC training. Similarly, factors significantly associated with positive attitude were online course related to COVID-19 only. Moreover, factors significantly associated with appropriate practice were master’s degree or above and online course related to COVID-19.Conclusions F-HCWs reported adequate overall knowledge with a positive attitude and adopted the appropriate practice. The experienced F-HCWs with higher education and who received IPC training and online course regarding COVID-19 had better KAP. So, the stakeholders must arrange the educational programs and training for F-HCWs for better preparedness tackling with COVID-19.