Knowledge and Practice among Staff Nurses Regarding COVID-19: A Cross-sectional Survey from Punjab

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly transmittable. Punjab faces sudden hike in number of positive cases including number of staff nurses also acquired infection. Therefore, the aim of study is to assess knowledge and practice among staff nurses in Punjab regarding COVID-19. Methods: An online survey-based study was conducted during the month of August to September among nurses. A self-administered questionnaire comprised of three sections (Demographics, knowledge, and practice) was used for data collection. Total sample size taken for study was 220 staff nurses. Results: Findings showed that staff nurses have good knowledge (78.2%) and good practice (97.7%) regarding COVID-19. Use of limited face mask in crowds and do not throwing the used tissues in trash are the major barriers in infection control practice. Factors such as qualification (χ2 = 22.805) were significantly associated with good knowledge at 0.05 level of significance. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between qualification (χ2 = 9.314) and experience (χ2 = 11.635) with practice of staff nurses regarding COVID-19 at the 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: Staff nurses in Punjab have good knowledge, reflected by good practice. Yet, there are areas where gaps in knowledge and practice were observed. To effectively control infection spread, well-structured training programs must be launched by government targeting all kinds of health-care professionals to raise their existed knowledge.