Knowledge, attitude, practice and perceived barriers among healthcare professionals regarding COVID-19: A Cross-sectional survey from Pakistan

Muhammad Saqlain; Muhammad Muddasir Munir; Saif Ur Rehman; Aqsa Gulzar; Sahar Naz; Zaheer Ahmed; Azhar Hussain Tahir; Muhammad Mashhood

is the (which was not peer-reviewed) The copyright holder for this preprint . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.13.20063198 doi: medRxiv preprint Institute of Health (NIH, Islamabad)) and international (WHO) healthcare authorities, these findings have shown knowledge gap among HCPs. This proportion (20%) is higher than other study that stated only 9.1% respondents have answered that flu vaccine could provide protection against COVID-19 [10]. Possible speculation is that currently the outbreak of COVID-19 in Pakistan is recent and discussion happens among HCPs is more likely regarding the symptoms of disease compared to other aspects like risky population and usefulness of existed vaccines and treatments. It is therefore necessary that these aspects of COVID-19 should be uncovered and cleared to HCPs so that they can educate people to counter this global public health issue. Correlational analysis also augments the findings of present study as knowledge is significantly related to attitude and also reflected by good practices. This view also inferred that HCPs with positive attitude are more interested in seeking knowledge and then put knowledge into practice.