PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

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

  • Nguyen Tien Huy,
  • R Matthew Chico,
  • Vuong Thanh Huan,
  • Hosam Waleed Shaikhkhalil,
  • Vuong Ngoc Thao Uyen,
  • Ahmad Taysir Atieh Qarawi,
  • Shamael Thabit Mohammed Alhady,
  • Nguyen Lam Vuong,
  • Le Van Truong,
  • Mai Ngoc Luu,
  • Shyam Prakash Dumre,
  • Atsuko Imoto,
  • Peter N Lee,
  • Dao Ngoc Hien Tam,
  • Sze Jia Ng,
  • Mohammad Rashidul Hashan,
  • Mitsuaki Matsui,
  • Nguyen Tran Minh Duc,
  • Sedighe Karimzadeh,
  • Nut Koonrungsesomboon,
  • Chris Smith,
  • Sharon Cox,
  • Kazuhiko Moji,
  • Kenji Hirayama,
  • Le Khac Linh,
  • Kirellos Said Abbas,
  • Tran Nu Thuy Dung,
  • Tareq Mohammed Ali Al-Ahdal,
  • Emmanuel Oluwadare Balogun,
  • Nguyen The Duy,
  • Mennatullah Mohamed Eltaras,
  • Trang Huynh,
  • Nguyen Thi Linh Hue,
  • Bui Diem Khue,
  • Abdelrahman Gad,
  • Gehad Mohamed Tawfik,
  • Kazumi Kubota,
  • Hoang-Minh Nguyen,
  • Dmytro Pavlenko,
  • Vu Thi Thu Trang,
  • Le Thuong Vu,
  • Tran Hai Yen,
  • Nguyen Thi Yen-Xuan,
  • Luong Thi Trang,
  • Vinh Dong,
  • Akash Sharma,
  • Vu Quoc Dat,
  • Mohammed Soliman,
  • Jeza Abdul Aziz,
  • Jaffer Shah,
  • Pham Dinh Long Hung,
  • Yap Siang Jee,
  • Dang Thuy Ha Phuong,
  • Tran Thuy Huong Quynh,
  • Hoang Thi Nam Giang,
  • Vy Thi Nhat Huynh,
  • Nguyen Anh Thi,
  • Nacir Dhouibi,
  • Truc Phan,
  • Vincent Duru,
  • Nguyen Hai Nam,
  • Sherief Ghozy,
  • contributors of the TMGH-Global COVID-19 Collaborative,
  • TMGH-Global COVID-19 Collaborative

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258348
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 12
p. e0258348

Abstract

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BackgroundSince 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.MethodsThis 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.ResultsWe 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 (pInterpretationThere 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.