ABSTRACT
Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic placed health workers at the frontline of the emergency task force response; a duty that requires professional expertise and confidence to rapidly identify and treat patients with COVID-19. This study explored perceived self-efficacy (PSE) of health care workers (HCWs) in the management of patients with COVID-19 and associated factors in central Uganda. Methods: We recruited 418 HCWs from four national referral hospitals in Uganda. Multivariate linear regression analysis was utilized to determine factors associated with PSE. A p-value > 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Majority of the participants were female, about half were nurses/midwives, and had 10 years of work experience on average. Overall, HCWs reported moderate PSE in managing COVID-19 patients which reduced with increasing severity of the COVID-19 illness. Having a PhD, being a medical doctor, agreeing or completely agreeing that one has knowledge about COVID-19 management, and having COVID-19 management training were significantly associated with increase in one's level of PSE. Conclusion: This study highlights an unsatisfactory, moderate level of PSE among HCWs in the management of patients with COVID-19 in central Uganda. The health sector should focus on improving HCWs' self-efficacy through continuous training of all HCWs in the clinical management of especially the severe and critically ill cases of COVID-19. Non-doctor HCWs should be given priority as they scored lower levels of PSE; yet they are the corner stone of the primary health care system and make majority of the health human resource in low- and middle-income countries. Interventions towards creating a safe working environment for HCWs through provision of adequate infection prevention and control strategies are essential in boosting HCWs confidence to manage COVID-19 patients.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Novel Coronavirus was declared as a pandemic by the WHO at the end of 2019. Proper hand hygiene was identified as one of the simplest most cost-effective Covid-19 control and prevention measures. It is therefore very important to identify gaps in the knowledge, attitude, and practices, and barriers regarding hand hygiene in the community. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a simple random sampling technique. An interviewer-guided questionnaire with questions on knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers to hand hygiene was used in data collection. Collected data were analyzed using Microsoft office excel 2016 and STATA 15 software. A 95% confidence interval was used and statistical significance was P<0.05. RESULTS: Only 88 (24.5%) of the participants had adequate knowledge of hand hygiene. 32.8% of the university students had adequate knowledge compared to 6.3% of the Katanga residents. The majority of 336 (93.6%) participants had a good attitude towards hand hygiene. University students had a significantly better knowledge of hand hygiene while Katanga slum residents had a slightly better attitude towards hand hygiene. Only 19.6% accomplished all the seven steps of handwashing. 38.4% of the participants were still greeting by handshaking. Of the participants, 60.1% noted lack of soap as a barrier to hand hygiene and 62.9% reported having more than three barriers to hand hygiene. Participants who had been taught handwashing were more likely to have better hand hygiene knowledge and practice. CONCLUSION: There was an overall high proportion of participants with a low level of hand hygiene knowledge. There is a need for optimizing hand-hygiene practices through addressing the barriers and promoting public health education.