Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices related to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among Healthcare Workers in selected hospitals in Sri Lanka.

Introduction

Good knowledge, a positive attitude and good practices are essential to deliver the necessary services to COVID-19 patients.

 

Methods

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2020 and September 2020 during the first wave of the COVID pandemic in Sri Lanka to assess knowledge, attitude and practices related to COVID-19 among 720 health care workers in 12 selected hospitals. Hospitals were selected from COVID-19 treatment centres (A), COVID-19 isolation centres (B)and other hospitals(C). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Knowledge, attitude and practice was assess using 10, 15 and 16 questions, respectively. The knowledge score could range from 0 to 27, for attitude the total possible score was 60 and the practice score range was 0-16. The score obtained by each participant was expressed as a percentage of the total possible score.

 

Results

There were 651/720 (90.1%) respondents with 311 (48%) doctors and 340 (52%) nurses. The majority was female (n=433; 66.5%). COVID-19 knowledge score was 74.6 with 69.4% of participants (71.5% doctors and 67.2% nurses) having good overall knowledge of COVID- 19. While >95% practiced preventive measures, overall practices were good in 85.9% of doctors and 86.7% of nurses. About 50% (68.5% doctors and 46.7% nurses) had a positive attitude toward COVID-19 patients. Good overall knowledge on COVID-19 (disease itself, transmission, and prevention) was associated with being a doctor. Good practices were associated with adequate knowledge, being married and being a doctor.

 

Conclusion

The knowledge of health care workers in Sri Lanka with regard to Coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) is on par with other South Asian countries. They had good knowledge and displayed good practices and a positive attitude towards COVID-19 patients.