Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 among paramedics in Saudi Arabia: Implications for educational program

Abstract

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing public health issue, which threatens the lives of more than 2.4 million people worldwide. This study's purpose is to establish paramedics’ knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. An online cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among paramedics in four hospitals via WhatsApp Messenger. The study population was composed of paramedics aged 18 years and above. A pre-validated questionnaire was used to evaluate KAP towards COVID-19. Bloom’s cut-off of 80% was used to assess sufficient knowledge (≥80%), positive attitude (≥4), and good practice (≥2.4). All analyses were performed using SPSS version 26 of the approaching 300 paramedics, 71 (24%) responded. The majority of participants were male (n=61, n=85.9%), with an average age of 33 (range: 18–57) years. Overall, 4.2% (n=3) had sufficient knowledge, 42% (n=30) had a positive attitude, and 4% (n=4) had good practice regarding to COVID-19. There was a statistically significant difference between paramedics’ KAP according to their socio-demographic characteristics. Younger paramedics (≥ 18) have sufficient knowledge and a good practice toward COVID-19 than older paramedics (≥37) (p=0.000, p=0.005), respectively. Older paramedics (≥37) have a positive attitude towards COVID-19 relative to younger paramedics (≥ 18) (p=0.000). A statistically significant difference between the total KAP and the level of education (p=0.000) at which the diploma (p=0.000) had sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 than the bachelors and the postgraduate level. Bachelor's and graduates have a positive attitude (p=0.000) towards COVID-19 than the diploma. Saudi paramedics have poor knowledge of COVID-19. In addition, the results of this study have shown that there are statistically significant differences in KAPs’ paramedics according to their demographic characteristics. The author suggests follow-up studies concerning emergency medical services (EMS) settings around the country. Relevance to clinical practice: Ongoing professional education program for Saudi paramedics is encouraged to improve knowledge of paramedics, thus preventing negative attitudes and encouraging constructive preventive and therapeutic practices.