Assessment of Knowledge, Reported Attitudes and Practices Regarding Emergency Preparedness and Related Factors at Tertiary-Care Hospitals of Punjab Province Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Hospitals need to maintain a high level of preparedness of staff and systems to mitigate the consequences of health emergencies and disasters. Therefore, the knowledge, attitude and practices of the hospital staff are of key importance in strengthening the emergency preparedness of the health system. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare workers regarding emergency preparedness and factors related to them, at the tertiary care hospitals of Punjab Pakistan Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted at six tertiary care hospitals in Punjab from February 2022 to August 2022, approved by advanced studies and the research board of the University of Punjab. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among 450 staff members of these hospitals to identify gaps in the knowledge, reported attitudes and practices of healthcare workers and their willingness to report for duty, selected by multistage sampling. Data were analysed by statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Version 22. Results: The results found that 49.8% of the participants were aware of disasters that occurred, 50% knew the hospital emergency plan, and 70% agreed that hospitals need written plans yet 72.4% were not aware of the major components of the plan. Regarding attitude of the staff, 73.8% of accepted that it is their duty to take care of patients, 33.6% thought that hospital preparedness is adequate and only 36.7% agreed that the hospital had adequate staff in catering for the increased patient influx. Regarding hospital preparedness practices, only 29.3% stated that hospital conducts exercises and drills and 30.4% reported that the hospital conducts other training sessions and workshops for staff. Conclusion: The majority of the staff at the studied hospitals had a positive attitudes and willingness to report for duties in case of health emergencies. But there were lacks in the knowledge and practices at these hospitals which needs to be addressed by making a written hospital emergency plan, conducting simulation drills and mock exercises and arranging training.