Assessment of Awareness and Preparedness About COVID-19 for Oncology Nurses in Saudi Arabia

Background: As is widely known, preparing nurses to deal with patients infected with COVID-19 is crucial, and knowledge about COVID-19 is needed. However, few researchers have discussed concerns about the overall healthcare system’s preparedness for COVID-19 or oncology nurses’ awareness and preparedness (A&P) regarding the disease, especially in Saudi Arabia. Objective: Provide a broader understanding of oncology nurses’ A&P regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study to assess the oncology nurses’ awareness and preparedness regarding the COVID-19 pandemic at King Khaled University Hospital in Riyadh (KKUH) and King Salman Armed Forces Hospital Tabuk (KSAFHT). The population of the study was oncology nurses who were working in day-case, clinic, and inpatient stations in these two hospitals, as well as oncology-certified nurses who were not working in oncology but volunteered to be part of the study. The calculated sample size was 146 nurses. These nurses were selected via convenience sampling. The data were collected with the help of a predesigned questionnaire that was used to assess Libyan hospitals’ preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic and the preparedness of healthcare workers survey. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS) version 23.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) was used to enter and analyze data. Results: According to the data collected from 146 oncology nurses, as per the study’s knowledge score criteria, 136 participants (93.15%) had a high level of awareness regarding COVID-19, and only 10 participants (6.85%) had a low level of awareness. The nurses’ level of awareness did not show significant association with the age (p = 0.394), gender (p = 0.582), experience (p = 0.566), or education (p = 0.062) of the study participants. Furthermore, the p-value showed no statistically significant difference among awareness scores in relation to the designation of nurses. On the other hand, 135 study participants (92.47%) had adequate preparedness and only 11 participants (7.53%) had inadequate preparedness. The level of preparedness was associated with the age, gender, experience, and educational status of study participants with the help of the chi-square test. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the nurses working in the oncology departments in two key Saudi hospitals have sufficient awareness and are prepared to deal with COVID-19 patients. Although nurses working in oncology departments are not primarily responsible for taking care of COVID-19 patients, they may still encounter COVID-19 patients, and they must take all possible protective measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19, as well as provide proper diagnosis and care for these patients.