Preparedness and attitude toward personal protective equipment among house officers during COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt

Ahmed Sayed, Asmaa; Mostafa Ahmed, Marwa; Talaat Elsayed, Inas; Saeed, Soliman; Inas, Alsallout; Nouran, Elfazary; Samar, Fares

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) struck the world by surprise by the rising numbers that required prompt governmental and hospital staff reaction to the ongoing crisis. A robust preparedness and personal protective equipment (PPE) were yet to be regarded as our best plan. METHODS: A survey study was conducted on 254 Egyptian house officers using an anonymous web-based questionnaire that was filled using Google Forms after obtaining online informed consent. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 25 years. Only 28.74% of the house officers were categorized as having a good preparedness, while 85.83% of them have a good PPE attitude. The preparedness and willingness were significantly associated with the overall worry related to the pandemic (P value = 0.012). Fear of contracting COVID-19 infection negatively affected their preparedness by 60% (odds ratio (OR) 0.40, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.17–0.93, P value = 0.034). The House officers with family members at-risk for severe COVID-19 were less likely to be prepared and willing by 70% (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.15–0.60, P value = 0.001). The house officers with good preparedness and willingness to deal with COVID-19 seemed to have a good PPE attitude (OR 11.48, 95% CI 2.43-54.34, P value = 0.002). CONCLUSION: A significant number of house officers expressed low levels of preparedness, while most of them have a good PPE attitude.