Perspective of Medical Students on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey of Nine Medical Schools in Uganda

Olum, Ronald; Kajjimu, Jonathan; Kanyike, Andrew Marvin; Chekwech, Gaudencia; Wekha, Godfrey; Nassozi, Dianah Rhoda; Kemigisa, Juliet; Mulyamboga, Paul; Muhoozi, Oscar Kabagambe; Nsenga, Lauryn; Lyavala, Musilim; Asiimwe, Asaph; Bongomin, Felix

doi:10.2196/19847

Cited by 95 publications

(169 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Previous research works have either unveiled the KAP of general public or investigated the mind set of isolated groups (students, doctors, patients, etc.) preferentially [1,7,8] . The information available so far is piecemeal which cannot be construed into a meaningful representation of the wholesome health care team.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, attitude and practices associated with COVID-19 among health care workers: A cross-sectional study in India.

Gopalakrishnan¹,

Kandasamy²,

Almohammed

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: In India, SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused phenomenal loss of lives and overburdened the health system. Low morale, fatigue and inadequate knowledge among health personnel are perceived threats to pandemic control. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) studies among HCWs can identify crucial knowledge gaps and gauge psychological impact. We aimed to assess the COVID-19 related current level of knowledge, attitude and practices among our HCWs.Methods: A cross-sectional, electronically distributed, questionnaire-based study was conducted among HCWs. The questionnaire identified participants’ demographics and the current KAP related to COVID-19. Descriptive statistics were used to present the participants’ demographics and Chi-square test to assess differences among the participants’ demographics based KAP. α < 0.05 was used for statistical significance. The association between the knowledge, attitude and practices was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficient (r).Results: Of 1,429 total participants, 71.9% belonged to age group 21-40 years. Female workers constituted 61.5%. Only 40.2% received any infection control training and 62.7% relied upon single source of information update. However, 82.9% of participants had adequate knowledge. Being married, urban dwelling and higher qualification were associated with knowledge adequacy (p<0.001). Interestingly, senior HCWs (age 41-50 years) were least likely to have adequate knowledge (74.1%). 84.2% had positive attitude towards COVID. Notably, 83.8% feared providing care to COVID patient. 93% practised safety precautions correctly most of the times and training had no influence on practise. Positive correlation was recognized between adequate knowledge and positive attitude (r=0.26).Conclusion: More than 80% of HCWs in India had adequate knowledge, positive attitude and practiced safely most of the time. However pitfalls like poor training, knowledge uncertainties and fear of disease acquisition among HCWs need to be addressed. Adverse outcomes can be averted by structured training sessions and psychological support programs for HCWs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, attitude and practices associated with COVID-19 among health care workers: A cross-sectional study in India.

Gopalakrishnan¹,

Kandasamy²,

Almohammed

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…In the present study 78.4% of participants knew about the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, which is lesser compared to a study from India, in which 86.7% of participants were aware of these symptoms and from Uganda, where 95% of students were aware of it. [22,23] In the present study 99.3% of participants were aware about the important protective measures like avoiding crowds and maintaining hand hygiene. This is also in accordance to a study from India, where 96.9% of participants knew about preventive measures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 50%

Knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduate medical and dental students in Lalitpur, Nepal

Jha

Singh

Bajracharya

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background The number of cases of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is still increasing especially in South Asia. There is an urgent need to measure the knowledge of the disease among health science students who may be required to play an active role in pandemic control. The research was conducted to answer how does Nepalese medical students' knowledge about coronavirus compare to medical students in other countries and what are the educational needs of medical students who may be called in to support the treatment of COVID-19 in Nepal. Methods A cross sectional study was performed during the third week of June among first to final year medical and dental students. As the country was in lockdown, a structured online questionnaire was used to obtain data. The responses obtained were cleaned, coded, entered in IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows and the normality of the data checked using one-sample Kolmogorov Smirnov test (p<0.05). The demographic parameters were tabulated and total score compared among different subgroups of participants. The frequency of different measures mentioned by respondents to control the pandemic were also noted. Results Out of the 565 participants, 336 (59.6%) were females followed by 229 (40.4%) males. Nearly half of the participants, 282 (49.8%) were belonging to age group 21-23 years. Majority 415 (73.5%) were undergraduate medical and 150 (26.5%) were undergraduate dental students. The largest number of respondents, 140 (24.9%) were from second year of study and 344 (60.9%) were from urban areas. The median total score was 21 and the interquartile range 4. The maximum possible score was 30. The scores among students belonging to different years of study were significantly different (p=0.033). Total scores were not significantly different among other subgroups of respondents. Conclusions The knowledge of the participants was good. Deficiencies in knowledge were noted in certain areas and these should be addressed through an educational intervention. In countries where epidemic is on the rise, strategies to keep health science students updated with proper information related to COVID-19 is important. Similar studies can be undertaken in other medical colleges in the country and in nursing and pharmacy colleges also.

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“…The KAP (knowledge, attitudes, and practice) studies conducted in different medical schools across the world have revealed for example that >80% of Jordanian medical students have adequate knowledge about the pandemic and are adopting correct practices during this period. 35 A further survey in Ugandan medical students revealed that 91% had good knowledge about the pandemic, 74% a positive attitude, 57% good practices, and 80% of students were ready to volunteer in frontline care, 36 while 96.6% of medical students at an Indian medical school reported practicing increased hand-washing during the pandemic, 92.7% had appropriate knowledge of COVID-19, and >80% had a positive attitude toward COVID-19. 37 Another study reported inadequate knowledge and practices in healthcare workers, including medical undergraduates, in India.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>Contribution to and Dilemmas of Undergraduate Medical Students in Combating Disease Outbreaks: COVID 19 and Previous Outbreaks</p>

Pant¹,

Pant²,

Naithani³

2020

AMEP

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COVID 19 has brought several challenges for each individual, changing the world's perception of health-care professionals. People are hailing health-care professionals as heroes, worthy of praise and gratitude. However, the pandemic has overburdened the health-care system. In this situation, the undergraduate medical students are being used as a crucial part of the health-care team in various ways. Involvement of medical undergraduates in situations of natural disaster is not new. In fact, a review of history of previous natural disasters reveals that this has been normal every time health systems have been overburdened. In the present situation of COVID 19, these students have a crucial role to play in helping frontline workers combat the crisis. Though the students would like to render their services, they are in a state of dilemma, as their roles are not defined clearly and their training to combat the pandemic is inadequate, as it was in previous outbreaks. This highlights a need to introduce module-based training for medical graduates to contribute effectively in combating future outbreaks.

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Perspective of Medical Students on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey of Nine Medical Schools in Uganda

Cited by 95 publications

References 17 publications

Knowledge, attitude and practices associated with COVID-19 among health care workers: A cross-sectional study in India.

Knowledge, attitude and practices associated with COVID-19 among health care workers: A cross-sectional study in India.

Knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduate medical and dental students in Lalitpur, Nepal

<p>Contribution to and Dilemmas of Undergraduate Medical Students in Combating Disease Outbreaks: COVID 19 and Previous Outbreaks</p>

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