Awareness of Coronavirus among Healthcare Workers in Ghotki city of Pakistan: a Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective The fast spread and growing trends of coronavirus has turn out to be a main cause of fear for the healthcare workers. This study is aimed to report the awareness of Coronavirus and practices to control spread of infection amid Healthcare workers in the Ghotki city of Pakistan. Methods The sample of 200 healthcare workers from the Ghotki city of Sindh Province in Pakistan completed a research based survey to report the awareness, responsiveness, knowledge, and practices to contain spread of infection during Coronavirus pandemic in healthcare systems. The survey questionnaire was designed as per CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and WHO (World Health Organization) current provisional guidelines published for healthcare workers (Center for disease control, CDC. 2020). Data was collected through appropriate sampling method and results were reported as frequencies and percentages. The statistics were performed on the bases of percentage of correct responses. The median test was used to separate pairwise evaluations for percentage of correct responses. Results The general knowledge of coronavirus and awareness to prevention for all subcategories was un-adequate with 63% reporting un-correct answers. The maximum accurate replies were from private practicing doctors (Doctors running personal clinics with only out-patient services) and specialist 23%, lowest were from paramedical staff, non- clinical and administrative staff. A smaller amount of the total respondents could correctly define about contact precautions. Though, most of the healthcare workers were conscious of the accurate sequence for the use of a face mask. And, simply 23% of the individuals were found aware of the standards methods of hand wash as advised by who. Conclusion Healthcare workers from the Ghotki city showed inadequate awareness of Coronavirus in current pandemic at hospitals in Ghotki city with an overall percentage of 37 % correct responses.