Assessment of front-line healthcare workers' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice after several months of COVID-19 pandemic

Frontline healthcare workers (F-HCWs) are at the forefront of medical care providers against the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which has life-threatening potentials. Inadequate knowledge and incorrect attitudes among HCWs can directly influence practices and lead to delayed diagnosis, poor infection control practices, and spread of disease.

The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding the COVID-19 pandemic among the frontline healthcare workers (F-HCWs) working at a tertiary care hospital situated in eastern Uttar Pradesh and to identify the factors significantly associated with KAP.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 260 health care providers across eastern Uttar Pradesh including Basti city during December 2020. Data was collected using a self-primed pretested questionnaire from the FHCWs working at a tertiary care hospital of eastern Uttar Pradesh. In this survey, a convenience sampling method was adopted. 12 items on knowledge, 10 items on attitude, and 5 items on practices related to COVID-19. The other variables consisted of 4 items on socio-demographic attributes, p-value and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were performed to assess the attitude and practices in relation to knowledge.

Of the total 260 study population, 228 were interviewed online, 32 were self-administered. Knowledge and attitude of the nursing staff were highest but practice score was best for residents. Among different age groups knowledge, attitude and practices scores were highest for 35-45, 45-60 and 25-35 age groups respectively. Respondents having 5-10 years of experience had the best knowledge and the attitude score was highest for HCWs having 10-20 years' experience but the practice score was higher for HCWs having more than 20 years' work experience. Overall knowledge score of respondents having strong correlation with attitude (p<0.05) and to the practice (p<0.05).

In this survey many F-HCWs reported adequate overall knowledge with a positive attitude and adopted appropriate practices. The F-HCWs with a higher level of education and more years of experience in health care facilities had better KAP towards COVID-19.