Medical residents’ attitudes and emotions related to Middle East respiratory syndrome in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Aldrees, Turki; Al Ghobain, Mohammed; Alenezi, Abdullah; Alqaryan, Saleh; Aldabeeb, Dana; Alotaibi, Najed; Alzahrani, Kamal; Alharethy, Sami

Correlation analysis. Correlations between the work-related emotions and knowledge questions are shown in Table 4 . Overall, participants who believed their hospital to have a clear plan for handling a MERS outbreak were less likely to feel that they should not look after MERS patients ( =-0.14, P=0.038) or that they might change their job due to the risk of MERS ( = -0.14, P=0.037). Furthermore, they were more likely to agree that the risk of contracting MERS was a part of the job ( =0.16, P=0.015) and to feel Residents who felt personally ready for a MERS outbreak were more likely to accept the risk as part of their job ( =0.15, p=0.026) and to disagree that they should not look after MERS patients ( = -0.20, p=0.002) or that they might change their job due to the risk of MERS infection ( =-0.16, p=0.019). We also observed a significant correlation between having received adequate personal protective equipment training and acceptance of the risk as part of their job ( =0.15, p=0.022) As their age increased, respondents were significantly more likely to report being afraid of infection ( =0.15, p=0.02,) and that the risk they were exposed to was unacceptable ( =0.21, p=0.001). Respondents who were married were more likely to agree that the risk they were exposed to was unacceptable compared to those who were not currently married (p=0.005). There were no other differences by marital status or gender. As training level increased, participants were more likely to feel that they should not be looking after patients (p=0.007) and that the risk they were exposed to was unacceptable (p=0.001). Finally, participants with higher self-rated knowledge of MERS were more likely to feel that the job put them at risk (p=0.006), but were also more likely to accept the risk as part of their job (p=0.003).