Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Jul 2021)

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards COVID-19 Among Pharmacists: A Cross-Sectional Study

  • AlRasheed MM,
  • AlShahrani AH,
  • AlMuhaini SA,
  • AlKofide HA,
  • Alhawassi TM,
  • Aldemerdash A,
  • Alhaj OA,
  • Bragazzi NL,
  • Jahrami HA

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 3079 – 3090

Abstract

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Maha M AlRasheed,1 Amani H AlShahrani,1 Sara A AlMuhaini,1 Hadeel A AlKofide,1 Tariq M Alhawassi,1,2 Ahmed Aldemerdash,1 Omar A Alhaj,3 Nicola L Bragazzi,4 Haitham A Jahrami5,6 1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 2Medication Safety Research Chair, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences,University of Petra, Amman, Jordan; 4Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Departments and Statistics, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; 5Ministry of Health, Manama, Bahrain; 6College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, BahrainCorrespondence: Maha M AlRasheed Tel +966 11 4678707Fax +966-11-4677480Email [email protected]: The COVID-19 outbreak has caused governments to put pandemic-related guidelines requiring compliance and understanding by healthcare professionals to mitigate its spread uncontrollably. We studied pharmacists’ knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the COVD-19 outbreak compared with other healthcare workers during the pandemic in Saudi Arabia.Methods: We surveyed pharmacists’ socio-demographics (n=50) compared with other healthcare professionals (n=378) during lockdown starting in June 2020. We measured respondents’ level of knowledge (n=10 questions, maximum score of 10), attitude (n=17 questions, maximum score of 80), and their practices (n=16 questions, maximum score of 80) towards COVID-19 infection.Results: Median knowledge score was 8 (25th– 75th percentiles: 7– 9), attitude score 76 (70– 80) and practice score 74 (68– 78). Good knowledge predictors were > 20 years working experience [OR: 2.05 (95% CI: 1.03– 4.06); P=0.04] and > 50% working in clinical practice [OR: 1.72 (95% CI: 1.12– 2.66); P=0.01], in inverse relationship with paramedical professions [OR: 0.45 (95% CI: 0.45 (0.28– 0.72)); P=0.001] and working in a university hospital [OR: 0.51 (95% CI: 0.33. 0.81); P=0.004]. Availability of pharmaceutical information and treatment options was associated with good attitude [OR: 2.19 (95% CI: 1.04– 4.59); P=0.039] and acquaintance as primary information sources negatively associated with good attitude [OR: 0.34 (95% CI: 0.15– 0.8); P=0.013]. Good practice predictors were female gender [OR: 3.84 (95% CI: 2.37– 6.24); P< 0.001], military hospital employment [OR: 2.32 (95% CI: 1.25– 4.31); P=0.008], USA [OR: 3.41 (95% CI: 1.03– 11.22); P=0.044] or UK [OR: 8.86 (95% CI: 1.91– 41.07); P=0.005] qualifications, and information on supportive measures [OR: 2.2 (95% CI: 1.36– 3.56); P=0.001].Conclusion: Health workers displayed good knowledge about COVID-19, while profession and working experience predicted adequate knowledge, positive attitude, or practice towards disease management.Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, pharmacists, knowledge, attitudes, practices

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