Abstract
Background: It is crucial for the frontline force such as health care workers to be up-to-date with the knowledge of the trend of COVID-19 pandemic and its epidemiology. We conducted this study to assess the knowledge, awareness and perception of health care workers towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey in the hospitals of coastal Karnataka among health care workers from February to May 2020. Results: A total of 197 Health care workers responded. Most of them were females (64%), physicians (45%), with a working experience of 1-10 years (77%). Five percent had a prior experience of the outbreak. The survey showed that the study participants had knowledge about treatment and precautions to be taken. However, some of them were not aware of the recent updates on quarantine and sample testing. Most of them perceived this pandemic as an important public health issue and were concerned that they might get infected in the course. Conclusion: There is a partial knowledge among HCWs regarding recent updates on COVID-19 pandemic and its related epidemiology. Hence, frequent sessions with the help of virtual media may be utilized to provide updates, and counseling sessions by experts may be arranged to reduce the fear of the pandemic.
Highlights
In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of a new coronavirus disease in Hubei Province, China, to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern
This study aims at assessing the knowledge, awareness and perception of the COVID-19 pandemic among Health care workers working in hospitals affiliated with a teaching institution in coastal Karnataka, India
We found that the knowledge varied among the Health care professionals with respect to different aspects of the epidemiology of the disease
Summary
In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of a new coronavirus disease in Hubei Province, China, to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The agent responsible for the pandemic is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2), and the disease is called Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) [1, 2]. India, being one of the largest democratic countries in the world and home to 1380 million people, had its first case as early as 30th January 2020 in the Kerala state. There are 586,244 active cases in India and 39,795 deaths have been reported. In Karnataka, currently, more than 73,854 cases and 2704 deaths have been reported [3 - 5]. It is crucial for the frontline force such as health care workers to be up-to-date with the knowledge of the trend of COVID-19 pandemic and its epidemiology. We conducted this study to assess the knowledge, awareness and perception of health care workers towards the COVID-19 pandemic
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