Fulltext

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries

Huy NT 1 , Chico RM 2 , Huan VT 3 , Shaikhkhalil HW 4 , Uyen VNT 5 , Qarawi ATA 6 Show all authors , Alhady STM 7 , Vuong NL 8 , Truong LV 9 , Luu MN 10 , Dumre SP 11 , Imoto A 1 , Lee PN 12 , Tam DNH 13 , Ng SJ 14 , Hashan MR 15 , Matsui M 1 , Duc NTM 8 , Karimzadeh S 16 , Koonrungsesomboon N 17 , Smith C 1 , Cox S 18 , Moji K 1 , Hirayama K 19 , Linh LK 20 , Abbas KS 21 , Dung TNT 8 , Mohammed Ali Al-Ahdal T 22 , Balogun EO 23 , Duy NT 24 , Mohamed Eltaras M 25 , Huynh T 8 , Hue NTL 26 , Khue BD 8 , Gad A 27 , Tawfik GM 28 , Kubota K 29 , Nguyen HM 8 , Pavlenko D 30 , Trang VTT 31 , Vu LT 8 , Hai Yen T 5 , Yen-Xuan NT 32 , Trang LT 33 , Dong V 34 , Sharma A 35 , Dat VQ 36 , Soliman M 37 , Abdul Aziz J 38 , Shah J 39 , Hung PDL 8 , Jee YS 40 , Phuong DTH 41 , Quynh TTH 42 , Giang HTN 43 , Huynh VTN 44 , Thi NA 45 , Dhouibi N 46 , Phan T 47 , Duru V 48 , Nam NH 49 , Ghozy S 50 , contributors of the TMGH-Global COVID-19 Collaborative , TMGH-Global COVID-19 Collaborative

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
  • 2 Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious & Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
  • 3 Faculty of Medicine, Pham Ngoc Thach University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 4 Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza Strip, Palestine
  • 5 School of Biotechnology, International University-Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 6 Lower Westchester Medical Associates, P.C., Mount Vernon, NY, United States of America
  • 7 Faculty of medicine, University of Gezira, Wad Medani, Sudan
  • 8 University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 9 Traditional Medicine Hospital of Ministry of Public Security, Vietnam
  • 10 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
  • 11 Department of Immunogenetics, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
  • 12 P.N. Lee Statistics and Computing Ltd., Sutton, United Kingdom
  • 13 Asia Shine Trading & Service CO. LTD., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 14 Hospital Enche' Besar Hajjah Khalsom, Johor, Malaysia
  • 15 Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh-Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 16 School of Medicine, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran
  • 17 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
  • 18 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
  • 19 Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
  • 20 VinUniversity, College of Health Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 21 Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
  • 22 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Ar-Ramtha, Jordan
  • 23 Department of Biochemistry and African Center of Excellence on Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
  • 24 Department of Gyn. Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg, Germany
  • 25 Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
  • 26 Nguyen Trai Hospital, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
  • 27 Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
  • 28 Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
  • 29 Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
  • 30 Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, Ukraine
  • 31 National Hospital of Traditional Medicine, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 32 Cambridge University Hospital Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • 33 Danang Oncology Hospital, Danang, Vietnam
  • 34 American University of the Caribbean, Cupe Coy, Saint Maarten, United States of America
  • 35 University College of Medical Sciences & Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Delhi, India
  • 36 Department of Infectious Diseases, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 37 Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
  • 38 Medical Laboratory Science, College of Health Science, University of Human Development, Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani, Iraq
  • 39 Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
  • 40 School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
  • 41 Center for Biomedical Research, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Vietnam
  • 42 Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan
  • 43 Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam
  • 44 Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
  • 45 Toulouse III Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France
  • 46 Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
  • 47 Vinmec International Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • 48 Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
  • 49 Division of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery and Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
  • 50 Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt
PLoS One, 2021;16(12):e0258348.
PMID: 34936646 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258348

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave.

METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training.

RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors.

INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

MeSH terms
Similar publications