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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

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 To cite this article:

Fazal F, Geevarughese NM, Thilakchand KR, Suresh S, Simon P, Baliga MS, Jakribettu RP. Knowledge and attitudes towards coronavirus and covid-19 among medical graduates and professionals: an online cross-sectional survey in india. Int. J. Med. Lab. Res. 2021; 6,2:14-24. http://doi.org/10.35503/IJMLR.2021.6203

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