Knowledge and attitude of family medicine residents toward Personal protective equipment correct usage in king Saud medical city, Riyadh

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers is a major concern whenever a pandemic occurs. Health care professionals are the frontline in the war against this vicious outbreak which makes them at a higher risk of inquiring the infection than the general population. Use of Personal protective equipment (PPE) is considered a pivotal role in infection control measures. We aimed to study usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) among KSMC family medicine Residents to determine if the appropriate PPE were used by family medicine physician and to examine the factors that may determine inappropriate. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on Family Medicine Residents of KSMC, Riyadh. All levels of residency of family medicine specialty were included in this research. We used convenient non-probability sampling technique. Results: A total of 134 Family Medicine Residents of KSMC, Riyadh were finally enrolled in this study. 86% of junior and 90% of senior residents received formal training in hand hygiene in the last three years. Most of them know that the main route of cross-transmission of potentially harmful germs between patients is health-care workers’ hands when not clean. Higher percentage of junior cleaning their hands after each consultation compared to senior (98% vs 86% respectively, P = 0.009). There was no statistically significant difference between males and females residents about wearing surgical masks by suspected patients whilst in common areas or throughout the consultation, and 87% of both of them received formal training in hand hygiene in the last three years. There was a significant difference between males and females residents in their knowledge about the main route of cross-transmission of potentially harmful germs between patients (P = 0.006); a higher percentage of males know that the main route is health-care workers’ hands when not clean compared to females (58% vs 52% respectively, P = 0.006), also higher percentage of females using PPE in infection room when a patient confirmed to have Covid-19 when compared to males (97% vs 80% respectively). Conclusion: At the time of the study, most medical residents were knowledgeable, had a positive attitude, and good level of awareness was observed regarding PPE as it prevents their infection when fighting COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these findings, there were few gaps in resident’s knowledge in certain situations and this need to be addressed through more training courses regarding PPE and this which will significantly raise the level of knowledge and also will set better attitude and practices regarding PPE. .