Novel COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey among Global Health Care Providers

Background: Covid-19, a highly infectious disease was first reported in Wuhan China on 31 December, 2019 It was declared a pandemic by World Health Organization on 11 March, 2020 when 118,326 cases were reported globally The present study was designed to determine the knowledge, practices, availability of personal protective equipment to health care providers and hindrance to delivering health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted with 217 health care workers serving in different hospitals/departments across the globe Sample size was calculated by using Open EPI software and data was analysed by using SPSS version 22 0 Results: Knowledge of many 152(73 4%) participants regarding guidelines for isolation of suspected cases and recommendations for wearing a mask in a community setting was not satisfactory About 51(24 63%) did not receive any personal protective equipment Inadequate provision of personal protective equipment was reported by 78(37 7%) participants as the most common factor that might impede their willingness to work during the COVID-19 pandemic About half 98(47 3%) of the participants admitted that they are not well prepared/trained in handling COVID-19 cases PCR was correctly reported as diagnostic test for SARS CoV-2 by 136(65 7%) respondents Conclusions Our study recorded lack of knowledge about newly emerged COVID-19 pandemic among health care workers Shortage of ventilators, testing kits and personal protective equipment was noted in many hospitals and departments Lack of personal protective equipment and insufficient training in infection control management may act as barriers in delivering health care during COVID-19