Knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers about middle east respiratory syndrome in multispecialty hospitals of Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Table 3 Attitude of healthcare workers towards MERS

Items	Participants' responses* N (%)					p-value**
	SA	A	U	D	SD	Prof¹	Gender	Age	Experience
Transmission of MERS-CoV infection can be prevented by using universal precautions given by CDC, WHO etc.^a	42 (27.5)	90 (58.8)	9 (5.9)	12 (7.8)	0 (0)	0.006	0.002	0.016	0.250
Prevalence of MERS can be reduced by active participation of health care worker in hospital infection control program^b	37 (24.2)	96 (62.7)	3 (2)	6 (3.9)	9 (5.9)	0.002	0.001	0.051	0.011
Any related information about MERS should be disseminated among peers and other healthcare workers^c	57 (37.3)	78 (51)	3 (2)	3 (2)	12 (7.8)	0.006	0.001	0.448	0.071
MERS patients should be kept in isolation^d	63 (41.2)	63 (41.2)	6 (3.9)	12 (7.8)	9 (5.9)	0.033	0.002	0.004	0.313
Intensive and emergency treatment should be given to diagnosed patients^e	66 (43.1)	72 (47.1)	9 (5.9)	0 (0)	6 (3.9)	0.201	0.001	0.002	0.097
Healthcare workers must acknowledge themselves with all the information about MERS^f	75 (49)	69 (45.1)	3 (2)	0 (0)	6 (3.9)	0.178	0.003	0.212	0.212
Gowns, gloves, mask and googles must be used when dealing with MERS patients^g	90 (58.8)	57 (37.3)	0 (0)	0 (0)	6 (3.9)	0.462	0.079	0.05	0.872

¹Profession.
*SA = Strongly agree, A = Agree, U = Undecided, D = Disagree, SD = Strongly disagree.
**derived from Chi-square test.
Note: Attitude was assessed by giving 1 to SA, 2 to A, 3 to U, 4 to D, 5 to SD. Score of < 2 were taken as positive attitude while ≥ 2 as negative attitude. Mean attitude score was 1.82 ± 0.72.
Mean Attitude Score ± SD: ^a1.94 ± 0.80, ^b2.03 ± 0.97, ^c1.92 ± 1.08, ^d1.96 ± 1.13, ^e1.74 ± 0.88, ^f1.64 ± 0.85, ^g1.52 ± 0.84.

ISSN: 1471-2458