Abstract
Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a viral infection and considered the third coronavirus emerging among human beings over the past two decades. Healthcare Workers (HCWs) are at high risk of acquiring this serious infection during providing care to patients. Therefore, it’s crucial to assess the knowledge of the HCWs about COVID-19. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted on HCWs working at public hospitals and Primary Healthcare (PHC) centers in the Najran region, KSA to evaluate the staff’s knowledge toward COVID-19. The questionnaire consisted of two parts, the first part included the demographic data, and the second part involved questions related to the COVID-19. Results: 451 HCWs participated in this study and the median of overall knowledge score was 67%. Most HCWs properly identified symptoms (82.9%), mode of transmission (78.5%), the incubation period (96.4%), the way of preventing the infection (91.5%), the COVID-19 is not same as MERS-CoV (74.3%) and availability of a vaccine against the COVID-19 (82%). However, HCWs were less likely to identify the source of COVID-19 when it was discovered in China (22.5%), the mortality rate (44.6%), and the presence of treatment (32.1%). Overall knowledge score was statistically significantly associated with profession (P = 0.034), educational level (P = 0.033), and availability of the infection control in the workplace (P = 0.006). Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrated an intermediate level of knowledge of HCWs about COVID-19. Intervention programs are urgently needed to raise the knowledge of HCWs about this global public health issue.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a viral infection and considered the third coronavirus emerging among human beings over the past two decades
Intervention programs are urgently needed to raise the knowledge of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) about this global public health issue
The other two species are originally zoonotic, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) which was the related pathogen for SARS-CoV in Guangdong Province, China in 2002 and 2003 [8] [9] [10], and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) that was the causative agent for MERS-CoV in the Middle East, which was first diagnosed in Saudi Arabia in 2012 [11] [12]
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a viral infection and considered the third coronavirus emerging among human beings over the past two decades. Overall knowledge score was statistically significantly associated with profession (P = 0.034), educational level (P = 0.033), and availability of the infection control in the workplace (P = 0.006). Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrated an intermediate level of knowledge of HCWs about COVID-19. The human coronavirus (HCoV) was discovered in 1965 and was named as B814 [1]. HCoVs are classified within the family Coronaviridae (genus, Coronavirus) in the order Nidovirales. They are the largest RNA viruses, enveloped, nonsegmented, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses, and named after their corona-like or crown-like surface projections seen on electron microscopy that correspond to large surface spike proteins [2] [3] [4]. The other two species are originally zoonotic, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) which was the related pathogen for SARS-CoV in Guangdong Province, China in 2002 and 2003 [8] [9] [10], and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) that was the causative agent for MERS-CoV in the Middle East, which was first diagnosed in Saudi Arabia in 2012 [11] [12]
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