Publication:

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of COVID-19 guidelines among health care workers in Alex Ekwueme Federal University teaching hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Background COVID-19 is a major Public Health challenge that has affected the world’s economy. Assessment of the knowledge, attitude and practices of Healthcare workers (HCWs) towards COVID-19 can improve or sustain the successes recorded by relevant agencies in the fight against COVID-19.

Methods a cross-sectional survey was done using semi-structured questionnaires and simple sampling technique. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 22.

Results Out of the 368 respondents, 205 were doctors while 150 were nurses. Others were clerical workers, administrative officers and maintenance workers. Knowledge of COVID-19 was generally high amongst respondents recording a correct response to questions about knowledge of COVID-19 in more than 90% of the case. However, the attitude and practice of COVID-19 infection, prevention and control protocols were poor. Out of the respondents, 41.8% would not stay at home if they had minor COVID-19 like symptoms; only 39.4% would take responsibility to ensure people around them follow good respiratory hygiene. Respondents who would keep social distancing while talking with co-workers, ensure safe disposal of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and safe waste management of PPEs were 56%, 39.9% and 53.8% respectively.

Conclusions Knowledge of COVID-19 prevention protocols is high but attitude/practice of these laid out protocols still desires a lot of effort from HCWs. There is need for training/retraining of HCWs on COVID-19 infection, prevention and control strategies to ensure the success being recorded against the disease is sustained while preventing the possibility of a second wave of infection.