Perceptions of volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic among medical and dental professionals in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Volunteering can be defined as any action where time is freely donated to help another individual, organization, or cause. During pandemics, volunteers in the healthcare industry are essential. There were different perspectives on volunteering around the world. This study evaluated Saudi Arabia’s clinical medical and dentistry students’ attitudes and perspectives on volunteering during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHOD: A descriptive cross-sectional study of medical and dental students completing the clinical experience in Saudi Arabia. A web-based survey gathered data, and SPSS, Chi-square, and Fisher’s exact tests were used for analysis. RESULTS: The majority of participants had positive attitudes and perceptions of volunteering during COVID-19 on most items. A total of 93.80% said they would volunteer given the opportunity, and 86.25% would respond to governmental calls during health crises. However, 62.26% would volunteer only if compensated, 66.58% needed parental approval before volunteering, and 74.93% had fears about infecting family members. Nearly all items were not significantly different by specialty (medicine/dentistry), gender, nationality, region, or education level. CONCLUSIONS: Medical and dentistry professionals had good attitudes about volunteering during health disasters, especially when provided proper protection and training. The majority of participants were likely to respond to governmental calls if needed. Future studies should investigate compensation methods and types.