Knowledge, Anxiety level and Perceptions on Prevention Protocol of COVID19 among Medical and Dental Graduates

Abstract

Aim To study the knowledge, anxiety level and perceptions on prevention protocol towards COVID19among medical and dental students.Methodology: The study population was under graduate and post graduate students of medical and dentalcolleges of India whose conventional academic curriculum was withdrawn due to COVID19 lockdown.An online semi-structured questionnaire was developed based on Current interim guidelines for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) and WHO and circulated. This online self-reported questionnaire containedthe following three sections related to knowledge anxiety and perception on prevention protocol amongmedical and dental students. . There were 7 multiple choice questions in the knowledge section. Anxietyrelated section and perception on prevention protocol related to novel coronavirus contained 9 items thatwere to be rated in the 5-point Likert scale. The data was statistically analysed.Result: Around 52% of the students have good knowledge about COVID19 transmission and diagnosis.Most of the students (55.7%) are comfortable with their virtual classrooms and around 54.5% of studentsshowed self-interest to volunteer patient care without more anxiety. Over 42.2% of students needed facultysupervision and other health professionals acting within their scope of practice and around 82% of studentswanted to follow strict preventive protocols to protect themselves from COVID19 infection.Conclusion : Most of the students are having good knowledge about COVID19 even though they areanxious about their academic curriculum and risk of exposure at present situation. The perception onprevention protocol evaluation showed that there should be strong need to implement infection controlmeasures for COVID19 across all healthcare institutions.