Comparison of Knowledge and Attitude among Medical and Dental Students Towards COVID-19
Fareya Usmani *
Department of Surgery, Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
Saba Arshad
Department of Oral Biology, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
Nasima Iqbal
Department of Pathology, Baqai Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Zakia Saleem
Smile Range Medical Centre, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Hira Mehmood
Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, Pakistan.
Muhammad Aitmaud uddolah Khan
Department of Pharmacology, Baqai Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: To assess and compare the knowledge and attitude of medical and dental undergraduates towards COVID-19 in current setup
Study Design: Cross-sectional
Place and Duration of Study: Study was done at Ziauddin university Karachi during the period of October 2020 to December 2020
Methodology: Medical and dental students from 1st year to final year were enrolled in the study. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.71. The questionnaire was consisting of demographic variables, questions regarding the knowledge towards COVID-19 and the attitude of medical and dental students. Analysis was done by using SPSS version-20. Frequency and percentages was used to present the categorical data. Comparison between demographic variables and knowledge score was done by using the independent t-test and one-way ANOVA test as appropriate. p-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant.
Results: About 56% of participants were female and from 3rd year (25.2%). Comparing with socioeconomic status, the upper class of medical students were having higher score. As the year of study upgraded the students reported higher knowledge score with significant p-values among both medical and dental students. Medical students were having higher knowledge about COVID-19 than the dental students but dental students were having more knowledge about the safety measures. Looking over the attitude, majority of medical students were interested in gaining information about COVID-19.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that medical students are having more knowledge about the COVID-19 but the dental students were more aware of the protective measure which should be taken. Both groups of medical and dental students having positive attitude towards limiting the spread of COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19, knowledge, attitude