Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Knowledge and Perceptions: A Survey of Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Background: During the first week of March, the surge of coronavirus disease 2019 cases reached over 100 countries with more than 100,000 cases. Healthcare authorities have already initiated awareness and preparedness activities beyond borders. A poor understanding of the disease among healthcare workers (HCWs) may result in delayed treatment and the rapid spread of infection. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and perceptions of HCWs about COVID-19. Methods:A cross-sectional, web-based study was conducted among HCWs about COVID-19 during the first week of March 2020. A 23-item survey instrument was developed and distributed randomly to HCWs using social media; it required 5 minutes to complete. A chisquare test was used to investigate the level of association among variables at the significance level of p<0.05.Results: Of 529 participants, a total of 453 HCWs completed the survey (response rate: 85.6%); 51.6% were males, 32.1% were aged 25-34 years, and most were doctors (30.2%) and medical students (29.6%). Regarding COVID-19, most of the participants used social media to obtain information (61%), and a significant proportion of HCWs had poor knowledge of its transmission (61%) and symptom onset (63.6%) and showed positive perceptions of COVID-19 prevention and control. Factors such as age and profession were associated with inadequate knowledge and poor perception of COVID-19. Conclusion:As the global threat of COVID-19 continues to emerge, it is critical to improve the knowledge and perceptions of HCWs. Educational interventions are urgently needed to reach HCWs beyond borders, and further studies are warranted.

Knowledge, attitude, practice and perceived barriers among healthcare professionals regarding COVID-19: A Cross-sectional survey from Pakistan

“…Findings are consistent with number of studies as Giao et al reported social media as a main source of information regarding COVID-19 used by 91.1% participant health care workers [22]. Similarly, a study conducted among 453 HCPs found that more than 60% respondents use social media to seek information regarding COVID-19 [10]. This is important as in this global pandemic, there is also a pandemic of misinformation regarding COVID-19; a serious concern might lead to xenophobia in the world as already warned by scientists and WHO officials [23] [24].…”

“…Also, there is plethora of malicious and unverified information waved on internet that spread quickly and could misguide the HCPs. So, situation demands that HCPs should carefully evaluate COVID-19 information sources and utilize authentic and valid content to seek information [10].…”

“…This is also augmented by positive linear correlation between knowledge and attitude found in present study. Giao et al and Bhagavathula et al also reported that majority of HCPs have positive attitude towards COVID-19 [10,22]. Interestingly, participant's attitude didn't differ statistically (P>0.05) by age, gender, experience and job.…”

“…The main manifestations of COVID-19 are fever, dry cough, dyspnea, myalgia, fatigue, hypolymphaemia, and radiographic evidence of pneumonia [1,9]. Presently, no antiviral therapy or vaccine is explicitly recommended for COVID-19 and implementation of preventive measures to control COVID-19 is the mainstay critical intervention [10].…”

Covid-19 Outbreak on Malawi Perspective

“…On 31 December 2019 first case of new of pneumonia of corona virus was registered in Wuhan, Hubei province in China now known as the COVID-19 which is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), symptoms include cough, fever and shortness of breath (1)(2)(3). Virus is a kind of zoonotic pathogens that is able to be transmitted through both animal and human contacts (3,5). On 11 March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 as a global pandemic, since then COVID-19 cases has been increasing rapidly up to 697,244 confirmed cases, 33,257 deaths in over more than 204 countries as at 31 March (4).…”