COVID-19-Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Among Medical Students in UniKL RCMP, Ipoh, Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: The value of prevention and control of infectious diseases is much effective and less costly than the management and therapeutic measures. This concept is greatly applicable in the current COVID-19 pandemic, since there is still no proper understanding in its exact pathogenesis and long term complications. Before the intervention of effective vaccines and antiviral drugs it is a critical necessity to understand and apply the basic knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) for this condition. Aims and objectives: Medical students are the future potential healthcare workers who need to play a major role in the community for the preventive measure. As such, they need to be trained with a good KAP. This study intended to explore the KAP of medical students in Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine Perak Malaysia toward COVID-19 prevention and control. Materials and methods: The approval for this study was obtained from the Medical Research Ethics Committee (MREC) UniKL RCMP. A cross- sectional study on COVID-19 related KAP was conducted using SKAPCOV-19 questionnaire developed by Saefi et al. (2020). Subjects included a total of 250 undergraduate medical students from year 1 to 5 and the subjects were recruited by systematic random sampling. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 on chi square and t-test. Results and conclusion: The respondents consisted of students from both gender. However, there is minimal effect on knowledge and practice scores regarding gender. Age has a significant effect on all three KAP scores. Out of the data, 52.3% of respondents had reasonable knowledge, 51.4% had acceptable attitudes, and 59.2% had satisfactory practices toward COVID-19. The KAP survey reflects the importance of this infection to be included in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The findings of this research will help improve students’ capability for the community in the future.