The Knowledge of COVID-19 among Health Care Workers in a Nigerian Urban Community and their Willingness to Manage COVID-19 Patients.

Imasuen, H; Nzomiwu, C L

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 19 has resulted in morbidity and mortality among those that contracted the disease especially among health care workers (HCW) who are involved in the management of the infected patients. OBJECTIVE To determine the level of knowledge of COVID-19 among health care workers and their willingness to treat infected patients. METHODOLOGY This cross sectional, self-administered questionnaire-based study was conducted among health care workers in a Nigerian urban community. The questionnaires obtained information on social-demographic profile, knowledge of COVID-19 and the willingness to treat infected COVID-19 patients. Data were analyzed using Statistical Product and Service Solutions Version 21 for windows. Tables were presented in form of frequencies and percentages. Chis-quared statistics was used to compare the difference between groups while the level of significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS A total of 408 health care workers participated in this study, of which 276 were males (67.6%) and 132 females (32.4%). The age range of 31- 40years (42.5%) was more in practice. Majority (68.4%) of the participants had adequate knowledge regarding COVID-19 (Table 2). About 17.6% of the participants were willing to treat infected patients. There was a statistically significant difference between the willingness to treat COVID-19 patients and the fear of being infected among all the HCW. CONCLUSION The knowledge of COVID 19 among healthcare workers was high but most of them were unwilling to treat infected patients because of fear of contracting the virus.