Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Regarding Personal Protective Equipment for the Prevention of COVID-19 in Public Hospitals Khartoum State Sudan 2022

Abstract

Since December 2019, there had been a series of unexplained cases of pneumonia reported in Wuhan, China, and on 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) named this new virus as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging, rapidly changing global health challenge affecting all sectors, including the health sector. This study aimed to investigate nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the prevention and control of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses in three public health hospitals in Khartoum state. A self-administered questionnaire was used. A total of 14 knowledge questions were adopted. There are 5 questions constructed for attitude. A total of 12 practice questions were used. Mean score of knowledge considers as follows when the mean more than 75% considers as good knowledge while this percent uses as good practice and poor practice respectively to analyze the mean score differences of knowledge, attitudes, and practices between the independent variables. Spearman correlation was used to assess the relationship between mean knowledge and attitude scores. Results: Of the 101 nurses approached, a total of 100 nurses responded (99.0% response rate). The mean age of the participants was 27.6 (SD 5.3) years, and the majority of the participants were male (293/434, 67.5%). The mean knowledge score was 1.01 (SD 0.100). The mean attitude score was 10.5 (SD 4.1), and 54.8% (238/434) of the participants had a good attitude toward COVID-19. The mean practice score was 1.4176 (SD 1.4176). There was a negative correlation between knowledge and attitude scores (P < -0.014) and between knowledge and practice scores (P < -0.081). Conclusions: The overall levels of knowledge and practice and attitude were good.