Evaluation of Confidence Level of Primary Healthcare Workers to Manage Patients with COVID-19 Infection

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has significantly impacted frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) and challenged an existing fragile healthcare system of South Africa (SA). Evaluation of the confidence levels of Primary Healthcare (PHC) workers in managing COVID-19 cases was conducted. A cross-sectional survey was used to investigate the level of training and confidence to manage COVID-19 cases. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate analysis were undertaken. The majority of HCWs were female (82.8%), unmarried (56.6%), and nurses (65.4%). The study identified that only 30.1% of the respondents received training on the COVID-19 treatment guidelines and 30.6% of staff were trained on reporting of COVID-19 cases to the authorities. Significantly, higher proportions of HCWs learned about COVID-19 case management by self-reading as opposed to formal training (88% vs 64.7%, P<0.05). The overall confidence level in handling and managing COVID-19 cases of the HCW translated to a 58% level of confidence. Medical practitioners had a significantly higher level of confidence (88.9%) than nursing practitioners (75.5%) and allied HCWs (52.5%, p<0.05). HCWs who received training on 5 or more items of COVID-19 case management had a significantly higher (83.1%) level of confidence (p<0.05) than those who had training on 4 or less items (61.7%). This study revealed that training on aspects of COVID-19 case management significantly increased their confidence levels. Timely interventions are needed to improve the confidence levels of HCWs and perceived barriers in the training of COVID-19 need to be urgently addressed.