International Journal of Medical Laboratory Research (IJMLR)

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS CORONAVIRUS AND COVID-19 AMONG MEDICAL GRADUATES AND PROFESSIONALS: AN ONLINE CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY IN INDIA

​

F Fazal, NM Geevarughese, K R Thilakchand, S Suresh, P Simon, MS Baliga, RP Jakribettu

 

ABSTRACT: Background: Globally, the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is today the biggest public health problem and has already affected over 2.8billion people. This online study was carried out from April 2ndto May 1st 2020 was carried out to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of medical professionals towards COVID-19 during the early days of lockdown in India. Methods: An online cross sectional, descriptive study was undertaken through WhatsApp Messenger among the medical graduates and professionals. The KAP toward COVID-19 was assessed by using a pre-validated questionnaire. The results were stratified based on academic/professional status as medical graduate, post graduate and faculty/professional. The data was expressed as frequency and percentage analyzed using the chi square/Fishers exact test using IBM version 22. Ap value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 388 responses from the medical professionals were received. Most volunteers were females 54.9%, single/unmarried 79.6% and younger than 30 years of age 54.1%. In the study, 57.2% were MBBS graduates, 18.6% were pursuing post-graduation and 24.2% were either practicing private doctors or teaching faculty in medical college hospitals. The results indicated that 99.5% were aware of the prevailing Covid -19 situation. Regarding knowledge on biology of the virus and its pathogenesis, majority of the volunteers answered the questions correctly. Majority of the professionals opined that they had a risk of getting infected. Most volunteers also agreed that quarantine, hand washing and wearing face mask were to be adopted. Conclusions: The results of this study conducted during the early stage of the lock down indicate that the medical professionals who had filled the questionnaire had very good knowledge on corona virus and Covid-19.

​

KEY WORDS: Knowledge, attitude, Practice, Coronavirus disease 2019, Medical professionals

​

REFERENCES:

1. Bhagavathula AS, Aldhaleei WA, Rahmani J, Mahabadi MA, Bandari DK. Knowledge and Perceptions of COVID -19 Among Health Care Workers: Cross-Sectional Study. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2020;6,2:e19160.

2. Roy D, Tripathy S, Kar SK, Sharma N, Verma SK, Kaushal V. Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID -19 pandemic. Asian J Psychiatr 2020; 51: 102083.

3. Singh GR, Singh DJ, Aggarwal A, Anand S, Anand V, Kaur BA. COVID -19: a survey on knowledge, awareness and hygiene practices among dental health professionals in an Indian scenario. RoczPanstwZaklHig 2020;71,2:223-229.

4. Parikh PA, Shah BV, Phatak AG, Vadnerkar AC, Uttekar S, Thacker N, Nimbalkar SM. COVID -19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Perceptions of the Public and Healthcare Professionals. Cureus 2020;12,5:e8144.

5. Holshue ML, DeBolt C, Lindquist S, Lofy KH, Wiesman J, Bruce H, Spitters C, Ericson K, Wilkerson S, Tural A, Diaz G, Cohn A, Fox L, Patel A, Gerber SI, Kim L, Tong S, Lu X, Lindstrom S, Pallansch MA, Weldon WC, Biggs HM, Uyeki TM, Pillai SK; Washington State 2019-nCoV Case Investigation Team. First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2020 5;382,10:929-936.

6. Worldometers.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/(accessed September 11 2020)

7. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Government of  India.https://www.mohfw .gov.in/ (ACESSED September 11 2020)

8. Modi PD, Nair G, Uppe A, Modi J, Tuppekar B, Gharpure AS, Langade D. COVID-19 Awareness Among Healthcare Students and Professionals in Mumbai Metropolitan Region: A Questionnaire-Based Survey. Cureus. 2020 2;12,4:e7514.

9. Giovanetti M, Benvenuto D, Angeletti S, CiccozziM.The first two cases of 2019-nCoV in Italy: where they come from? J Med Virol2020; 92,5: 518–521.

10. Paraskevis D, Kostaki EG, MagiorkinisG, Panayiotakopoulos G, Sourvinos G, Tsiodras S. Fullgenomeevolutionary analysis of the novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV) rejects the hypothesis of emergence asa result of a recent recombination event. Infect GenetEvol 2020; 79: 104212. Hamed A, Nedal A, Al-Mnayyis A, Lubada MA, AqelA, Al-Shagahin HCOVID -19 - Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Medical and Non-Medical University Students in Jordan.J. Pure Appl. Microbiol 2020; 14,1:17-24.

11. Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, Wang X, Zhou L, Tong Y, Ren R, Leung KSM, Lau EHY, Wong JY, Xing X, Xiang N, Wu Y, Li C, Chen Q, Li D, Liu T, Zhao J, Liu M, Tu W, Chen C, Jin L, Yang R, Wang Q, Zhou S, Wang R, Liu H, Luo Y, Liu Y, Shao G, Li H, Tao Z, Yang Y, Deng Z, Liu B, Ma Z, Zhang Y, Shi G, Lam TTY, Wu JT, Gao GF, Cowling BJ, Yang B, Leung GM, Feng Z. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia. N Engl J Med. 2020;382,13:1199-1207.

12. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, Li X, Yang B, Song J, Zhao X, Huang B, Shi W, Lu R, Niu P, Zhan F, Ma X, Wang D, Xu W, Wu G, Gao GF, Tan W; China Novel Coronavirus Investigating and Research Team. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382,8:727-733.

13. WHO-2019-nCov-IPCPPE_use-2020.1-eng.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2020, fromhttps://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/ handle/10665/331215/WHO-2019-nCov-IPCPPE_use-2020.1-eng.pdf

14. Fang L, Karakiulakis G, Roth M.Are patients withhypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased riskfor COVID -19 infection? LancetRespir Med, 2020. Ong SWX, Tan YK, Chi, PY, Le, TH, Ng OT, Wong M.SY, MarimuthuK. Air, Surface Environmental, and Personal Protective Equipment Contamination by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) From a Symptomatic Patient. JAMA 2020; 323,16: 1610–1612.

15. Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, Qiu Y, Wang J, Liu Y, Wei Y, Xia J, Yu T, Zhang X, Zhang L.. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet2020;395: 507-13.

16. Hu Y, Sun J, Dai Z, Deng H, Li X, Huang Q, Wu Y, Sun L, Xu Y.. Prevalence of comorbidities in the novel Wuhan coronavirus (COVID -19) infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Infect Dis 2020.

17. Du RH, Liang LR, Yang CQ, Wang W, Cao TZ, Li M, Guo GY, Du J, Zheng CL, Zhu Q, Hu M, Li XY, Peng P, Shi HZ. Predictors of mortality for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2: a prospective cohort study. EurRespir J. 2020 May 7;55,5:2000524.

18. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Using Personal Protective Equipment PPEhttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/using-ppe.html (Referred March 25th 2020)

19. Cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces in the context of COVID -19: Interim guidance. WHO reference number: WHO/2019-nCoV/Disinfection/2020.1 (Referred on May 25th 2020)

20. Quarantine alone or in combination with other public health measures to control COVID‐19: A rapid review—Nussbaumer-Streit, B - 2020| Cochrane Library. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2020.

21. Yang, C. Does hand hygiene reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission? Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2020; 1–2.

22. Cheng, K. K., Lam, T. H., & Leung, C. C.  Wearing face masks in the community during the COVID -19 pandemic: Altruism and solidarity. The Lancet2020.

23. Lurie N, Saville M, Hatchett R, Halton J. Developing COVID -19 Vaccines at Pandemic Speed. New England Journal of Medicine 2020.

24. Yang, Y. Use of herbal drugs to treat COVID -19 should be with caution. The Lancet2020;, 0(0).

25. Chen J, Liu D, Liu L, Liu P, Xu Q, Xia L, Ling Y, Huang D, Song S, Zhang D, Qian Z, Li T, Shen Y, Lu H. [A pilot study of hydroxychloroquine in treatment of patients with moderate COVID-19]. Zhejiang Da XueXueBao Yi Xue Ban. 2020;49,2:215-219. Chinese.

26. Tang W, Cao Z, Han M, Wang Z, Chen J, Sun W, Wu Y, Xiao W, Liu S, Chen E, Chen W, Wang X, Yang J, Lin J, Zhao Q, Yan Y, Xie Z, Li D, Yang Y, Liu L, Qu J, Ning G, Shi G, Xie Q. Hydroxychloroquine in patients with mainly mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019: open label, randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2020 May 14;369:m1849.

27. Alhazzani W, Alshamsi F, Belley-Cote E, Heels-Ansdell D, Brignardello-Petersen R, Alquraini M, Perner A, Møller MH, Krag M, Almenawer S, Rochwerg B, Dionne J, Jaeschke R, Alshahrani M, Deane A, Perri D, Thebane L, Al-Omari A, Finfer S, Cook D, Guyatt G. Efficacy and safety of stress ulcer prophylaxis in critically ill patients: a network meta-analysis of randomized trials. Intensive Care Med. 2018;44,1:1-11.