Patient's Perspective of Awake Proning: A Cross-Sectional Interview-Based Survey From COVID-19-Recovered Patients

To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of the patients who underwent prone positioning during their COVID-19 illness in the hospital. Cross-sectional study. Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. COVID-19-recovered patients. None. Knowledge was assessed by five questions with a dichotomous response (yes/no). An yes response was awarded 1 score. Since there were five questions, five would be the highest score. Patients' perceptions of the therapy were assessed by four questions, each scored on a Likert scale of 5 (5 = strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 2 = disagree, and 1 = strongly disagree). As it had four questions, the maximum score achieved could therefore be 20. Proning practices were assessed using seven questions: four were used to calculate practice scores, whereas three were open-ended regarding the patient's experience. Each question carries a different score, and the maximum score was 8. The study included 98 patients. The mean age of the patients was 57 years (sd, 12.2 yr). Majority of the patients were males (70.4%). 69.1% of males and 76.6% of females fell in the poor knowledge group. The poor knowledge cohort had an educational level of 48% in high school, 45.5% in graduates, and 6% in postgraduates. Compared with 56.5% of males, 73% of females preferred prone positioning. Sixty percent of those with a high school education viewed prone positioning favorably, whereas 46% of those with graduate and postgraduate did. Seventy-nine percent of males and 63% of females scored positively on the practice questionnaire. Eighty percent of graduates and postgraduates preferred proning practices to 67% of participants with high school education levels. Our study population had a little understanding of awake proning, found it unpleasant, and practiced for a shorter period than advised. Despite the overall negative attitude toward the position, our patients highly recommend this position to future patients.