Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards COVID-19 among Medical Students

In late December 2019 COVID-19 was first seen in Wuhan, China which has been spreading to the whole world in subsequent months. Till the time this manuscript is written, COVID-19 has infected more than 2million people and killed more than 129843 people all around the world. First step in fighting against COVID-19 is to have appropriate knowledge and correct attitude and practices. Methods: This study was done to know the knowledge, attitude and practices on COVID-19 amongst medical students using internet based structured questionnaires. This cohort online survey study was conducted after one-week lock down following COVID-19 Spread in Nepal. Structured questionnaire was made and was conducted among the Medical students of a University Hospital. There were 19 questionnaires regarding Knowledge, Three Regarding Attitude and Five Regarding Practices.The study population included 631 respondents from the medical school of University Hospital. Results: Out of 631 responders, the mean correct Knowledge score was 83.4%. Of the 19 knowledge questionnaires, the mean score was 15.8, (Range 0-19), Regarding the attitude questionnaire, 81.7% responders had a positive attitude toward COVID-19 being controlled globally in near future. Majority of the responders 96% wore masks when going out in recent days and 97.6% of responders didn’t go to crowded places during this period. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the Nepalese Residents (Medical Students) have good knowledge, optimistic attitude and appropriate preventive practices towards COVID-19. Better knowledge is associated with online or onsite training obtained about COVID-19 outbreaks. Optimistic Attitude and appropriate preventive practices was associated with better knowledge of the responders. Keywords: COVID-19; Knowledge, attitude and practices; Nepal