1. Introduction
he world is currently suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was first observed in late 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The reported symptoms of COVID-19 are respiratory problems and with acute respiratory distress syndrome, which ultimately lead to death in the most severe cases [
1]. COVID-19 has also been shown to affect other organs, including the brain, and there have been recent reports of neurological symptoms from COVID-19 infection [
2]. There are signs of the neurotrophic properties in SARS-CoV-2 virus; however, little seems to be known about the exact mechanisms by which it affects brain function [
3]. According to previous studies on the SARS or Ebola epidemic, the occurrence of a sudden and immediately life-threatening disease can put tremendous pressure on medical staff [
4].
2. Materials and Methods
This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Participants were 160 medical and administrative staff working in hospitals and health centers of Jahrom city in Iran. Data collection tools were a demographic form (surveying age, gender, marital status, level of education, occupation, place of residence, workplace department, work experience, number of people living together at home, history of domestic or international travel in the past month, having/not having COVID-19, and type of employment), and a researcher-made Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of COVID-19 questionnaire, with three subscales of Knowledge (10 items), Attitude (17 items) rated on 3-point Likert scale (Yes, No, No idea), and Practice (14 items) where 11 items are rated on 3-point Likert scale (Yes, No, No idea). Collected data were analyzed in SPSS v. 21 software by using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean) considering a significance level of P<0.05.
3. Results
In both groups of medical and administrative staff, the practice score was significantly higher in women than in men (p<0.05). Among the medical staff, the mean attitude score of those who had no travel history was significantly higher compared to others (p=0.021). Among administrative staff, in all three subscales of knowledge, attitude and practice, there was a significant difference between staff with different levels of education (p<0.05), such that with higher education, the levels of knowledge, attitude and practice increase. According to the results, the most of staff in both groups answered Yes (correct) to the questions, where its percentage was higher in the medical staff than in the administrative staff. Regarding attitude dimension, the majority of the staff chose the “Yes” option. Most of them agreed with further restrictions to prevent the spread of the disease. In most questions, the level of agreement with the restrictions among the medical staff was higher. In preventing the disease, the performance of most staff was positive. Regarding the use of herbal products and traditional medicine, the usage rate by administrative staff was higher, such that 49.4% of administrative staff and 28.9% of medical staff stated that they use these products (
Table 1 &
2).
4. Discussion and Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to compare the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of medical and administrative staff about COVID-19 in a hospital in Iran. Few studies have paid attention to the administrative staff of health centers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a study on assessing knowledge, attitude, practice and perceived barriers among healthcare workers regarding COVID-19, Saqlaina [
17] showed that most of them had good knowledge (93.2%, n=386), positive attitude and good performance (88.7%, n=367). Our results are consistent with the results of Saqlaina, Kamate et al., and Zhang et al., and Yudong. In the present study, the medical and administrative staff had also good knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19.
The transmissibility of COVID-19 and its association with high complications may increase a person’s perception of personal danger. In addition, the predictable lack of resources and the increase in suspected and definite cases of COVID-19 increase the pressure and concerns of administrative staff who have accurate information about the condition of hospitals. Due to the importance of health and the higher risk of getting the disease in the administrative staff, it seems necessary to take educational measures to increase their awareness of COVID-19.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This study was approval by the Jahrom University of Medical Sciences (code:IR.JUMS.REC.1399.040). All ethical principles are considered in this article. The participants were informed about the purpose of the research and its implementation stages. They were also assured about the confidentiality of their information and were free to leave the study whenever they wished, and if desired, the research results would be available to them.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the Clinical Research Development Unit of Peymaniyeh Hospital in Jahrom, Iran.
Authors' contributions
Conceptualization, methodology, Writing – original draft, and writing – review & editing: All authors; Methodology and data analysis: Navid Kalani, Nasser Hatami.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Clinical Research Development Unit of Peymaniyeh Hospital in Jahrom, Iran for their support and cooperation.
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