Knowledge about COVID-19 and its Precautionary Measures among Healthcare Workers at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University

BACKGROUND: The core of the healthcare system is healthcare workers (HCWs). A skilled and healthy workforce is essential during a health emergency like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. AIM: This study evaluated knowledge of COVID-19, its preventive measures, and factors affecting it among HCWs at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo University to determine their desire to obtain the available COVID-19 vaccines in addition to the factors that may affect it. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study included 151 HCWs in Egypt using a self-administered questionnaire created by the researchers after examining the information supplied by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, World Health Organization, and the relevant research regarding knowledge assessment. Initially, demographic data were collected. Participants were asked their source of knowledge about COVID-19 and their intent to receive the available vaccines. Knowledge about COVID-19 and preventive measures was compared between different HCWs in NCI. In addition, knowledge score was compared according to different factors to determine factors affecting knowledge. RESULTS: Physicians represented about 40% of the total number of participants. HCWs’ knowledge of COVID-19 was higher among physicians, with a higher percentage of correct answers than the other two groups (nurses and pharmacists and employees and technicians). Younger age groups had a significantly higher median knowledge score than the older groups. Physicians had significantly higher median scores than employee and technician groups. CONCLUSION: The overall knowledge about COVID-19 and its preventive measures among HCWs was generally good, especially among physicians more than allied health professionals. However, some of the virus-related knowledge was less advanced than expected for the HCWs position.