Knowledge, Awareness and Practice of Health care Professionals amid SARS-CoV-2, Corona Virus Disease Outbreak

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, awareness and practice level of health care workers towards Corona Virus disease - 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted by administering a well-structured questionnaire comprising of three sections including knowledge, attitude and practice amongst health care professionals in various hospitals and clinics, over a duration of two months ‘Feb-March’ 2020. The data from 810 participants were collected manually as well as through online survey registered on www.surveys.google.com, using a validated questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised of three sections assessing knowledge, awareness and practice of participants. The descriptive analysis was carried out for demographics and dependent variables with statistical program for social sciences. Spearman test was used to detect any relationship between the health care professional response with respect to their gender and level of education. A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: More than half (57.2%) of the health care professionals were working in a hospital setting. Fifty two percent of health care professionals had awareness and 72% were practicing adequate measures to combat COVID-19. The majority (81.9%) believed that the sign and symptoms are similar to a common flu and the main strata of population that could be affected by COVID-19 are elderly (79%). Seventy three percent of participants did not attend any lecture, workshop or seminar on COVID-19 for awareness purpose. Sixty seven percent of health care professionals were practicing universal precaution for infection control and 57.4% were using sodium hypochlorite as a surface disinfectant in dental surgeries. There was no significant relationship (p > 0.05) between the health care professionals’ responses with gender and their education level. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that the vast majority of the health care professionals have adequate knowledge and awareness related to COVID-19. However some aspects of practice of health care professionals were found to be deficient including, following CDC guidelines during patient care, acquiring verified knowledge related to COVID-19, disinfection protocol and the use of N-95 mask. Mandatory Continued professional development programs including lectures and workshops on COVID-19 for all health care professionals are the need of the hour, to manage the pandemic and limiting the morbidity and mortality related to it.