Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries.
Creators: name: Huy, Nguyen Tien
name: Chico, R Matthew
name: Huan, Vuong Thanh
name: Shaikhkhalil, Hosam Waleed
name: Uyen, Vuong Ngoc Thao
name: Qarawi, Ahmad Taysir Atieh
name: Alhady, Shamael Thabit Mohammed
name: Vuong, Nguyen Lam
name: Truong, Le Van
name: Luu, Mai Ngoc
name: Dumre, Shyam Prakash
name: Imoto, Atsuko
name: Lee, Peter N
name: Tam, Dao Ngoc Hien
name: Ng, Sze Jia
name: Hashan, Mohammad Rashidul
name: Matsui, Mitsuaki
name: Duc, Nguyen Tran Minh
name: Karimzadeh, Sedighe
name: Koonrungsesomboon, Nut
name: Smith, Chris
name: Cox, Sharon
name: Moji, Kazuhiko
name: Hirayama, Kenji
name: Linh, Le Khac
name: Abbas, Kirellos Said
name: Dung, Tran Nu Thuy
name: Mohammed Ali Al-Ahdal, Tareq
name: Balogun, Emmanuel Oluwadare
name: Duy, Nguyen The
name: Mohamed Eltaras, Mennatullah
name: Huynh, Trang
name: Hue, Nguyen Thi Linh
name: Khue, Bui Diem
name: Gad, Abdelrahman
name: Tawfik, Gehad Mohamed
name: Kubota, Kazumi
name: Nguyen, Hoang-Minh
name: Pavlenko, Dmytro
name: Trang, Vu Thi Thu
name: Vu, Le Thuong
name: Hai Yen, Tran
name: Yen-Xuan, Nguyen Thi
name: Trang, Luong Thi
name: Dong, Vinh
name: Sharma, Akash
name: Dat, Vu Quoc
name: Soliman, Mohammed
name: Abdul Aziz, Jeza
name: Shah, Jaffer
name: Hung, Pham Dinh Long
name: Jee, Yap Siang
name: Phuong, Dang Thuy Ha
name: Quynh, Tran Thuy Huong
name: Giang, Hoang Thi Nam
name: Huynh, Vy Thi Nhat
name: Thi, Nguyen Anh
name: Dhouibi, Nacir
name: Phan, Truc
name: Duru, Vincent
name: Nam, Nguyen Hai
name: Ghozy, Sherief
name: Contributors Of The TMGH-Global COVID-19 Collaborative
name: TMGH-Global COVID-19 Collaborative
Publisher: name: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Research Article
subject: Medicine and health sciences
subject: People and places
subject: Biology and life sciences
subject: Engineering and technology
subject: FOS: Engineering and technology

description: Funder: school of tropical medicine and global health, nagasaki university
description: BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p&lt;0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p&lt;0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p&lt;0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type.