Investigating healthcare practitioners’ attitudes towards the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia: A general qualitative framework for managing the pandemic

Abstract

Background Some previous studies have investigated the attitudes of healthcare professionals towards certain aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, some general frameworks have been proposed to manage the pandemic. Objective The purpose of this article was to analyze the attitudes of healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia towards the treatment of patients with COVID-19, work planning of practitioners, leadership approaches to manage the pandemic, sharing information strategies, medical errors, compliance with procedures, and challenges faced by the practitioners. Furthermore, another objective was to propose a general framework for managing the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia. Methods To achieve these purposes, a survey was designed based on an online questionnaire that was initially sent via WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, and email to 336 healthcare practitioners working in 7 hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The response rate was 30.4%. Results The outcomes indicated that healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia had positive attitudes towards effective communication and interaction between health professionals and patients, leadership and maintenance of team coordination, work planning, communication and cooperation between team members, training and skills development of healthcare professionals, implementing strict procedures to avoid errors and control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining an adequate supply of medicines and medical equipment, and obtaining the support of the government, the community, and the people. Conclusion Based on the findings, it was possible to suggest that the management of health care operations related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia requires effective collaboration and information sharing among various stakeholders. In this sense, communication, effective leadership, coordination and work planning, adequate treatment for patients, strict compliance with hospital rules and procedures, preventive and regulatory measures, and training and support for health professionals, were parameters considered in the general qualitative framework suggested in this study for managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. The propositions presented in this study can help the Saudi Arabian government implement an effective plan to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in this country.

COVID-19 and Saudi Arabia: Awareness, Attitude, and Practice

“…26 Taken together, increasing the accessibility to materials provided by health care authorities, intensive training programs for all categories of the healthcare workers, rigorous attentive protocols, and a commitment to change behavior/practice, will significantly benefit the spread of the outbreaks. 24,31,32,37,[40][41][42][43][44][45]47,48,60,78,84,131 Mushi et al suggested that "risk communication as an effective strategy to improve the attitude and practice of HCWs towards COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia". 89 Measures to enhance protection for HCPs and minimize psychological consequences/potential social stigmatization should be recognized in the planning stage before any pandemic.…”

“… Baig/Dec 2020 39 Predictors of misconceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and practices of COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of Saudi population 2006 participants Online questionnaire The study participants had good knowledge, positive attitudes, and good practices, but several myths were also prevalent. Alanezi/ 2021 40 Investigating healthcare practitioners’ attitudes towards the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia: A general qualitative framework for managing the pandemic 102/336 respondents Online questionnaire The parameters considered by the authors in their constructed qualitative framework for managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia included “communication, effective leadership, coordination, and work planning, adequate treatment for patients, strict compliance with hospital rules/procedures, preventive/regulatory measures, and training/support for health professionals”. Shrivastava/ 2021 41 Assessment of knowledge and attitude of allied healthcare professionals about COVID-19 across Saudi Arabia 195 AHPs Online questionnaire - Allied healthcare professionals (AHPs) displayed a moderate level of knowledge and a good attitude towards COVID-19.…”

Perception of Heath Care Providers About COVID-19 and Its Vaccination in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study

“… 1 As of the middle of November 2020, there have been more than 53,700,000 confirmed cases of people infected and more than 1,300,000 reported deaths. 2 In Saudi Arabia, 539,698 infections and 8431 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in the country since the pandemic began. In addition, Saudi Arabia has administered at least 32,281,173 COVID-19 vaccines, accounting for about 47% of the Saudi population.…”

The association between nurse managers’ transformational leadership and quality of patient care: A systematic review

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, effective leadership in the healthcare setting among healthcare workers, including nurses is highlighted in previous studies (Alanezi et al, 2021;Ratanjee & Foy, 2020), as one of the parameters or strategies to control the spread of COVID-19 infection. The utilization of transformational leadership is one of the strategies to battle the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been reported in Liu et al (2021), as infections continue to increase despite the worldwide administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.…”