Department of Nursing, Honam University, 417 Eodeung-daero, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, 62399, Republic of Korea.
Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju, 61452, Republic of Korea.
BMC Med Educ. 2022 Mar 8;22(1):161. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03229-6.
The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the stability and adequacy of the global healthcare system. In this situation, authorities have considered engaging medical and nursing students to address the shortage of frontline healthcare workers. This study investigated the effect of COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and preventive behaviors on medical and nursing students' willingness to care for COVID-19 patients.
Medical and nursing students from universities in two regions of South Korea participated in this cross-sectional study. A total of 330 questionnaires were distributed; of them, 99.3% were collected, and 315 questionnaires were analyzed. Data were collected on participants' general characteristics, COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and preventive behaviors, and willingness to care for COVID-19 patients.
In total, 66.3% of the participants were willing to care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in higher grades and those with more clinical practice experience showed higher levels of willingness to care. Specifically, willingness to care was correlated with the senior year (OR = 3.58, 95% CI = 1.24 - 10.37, p = .019), a high level of COVID-19-related knowledge (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.00 - 1.05, p = .041), an optimistic attitude that COVID-19 can be overcome (OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.24 - 2.14, p < .001), and increased engagement in infection prevention behaviors (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.16 - 1.71, p < .001).
The findings indicated that a high level of knowledge regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, having an optimistic attitude, and engaging in preventive behaviors affected students' willingness to care for COVID-19 patients. Integrating disaster preparedness courses in the early years of their curriculum could increase future healthcare providers' willingness to care for patients.
新冠疫情对全球医疗体系的稳定性和充足性构成了威胁。在这种情况下，有关部门考虑让医学生和护理学生参与进来，以解决前线医护人员短缺的问题。本研究旨在调查与新冠疫情相关的知识、态度和预防行为对医学生和护理学生照顾新冠患者意愿的影响。
本研究采用横断面研究，选取韩国两个地区大学的医学生和护理学生作为研究对象。共发放 330 份问卷，回收有效问卷 315 份，有效回收率为 99.3%。问卷内容包括参与者的一般特征、与新冠疫情相关的知识、态度和预防行为，以及照顾新冠患者的意愿。
共有 66.3%的参与者表示愿意在新冠疫情期间照顾患者。高年级学生和有更多临床实践经验的学生表现出更高的照顾意愿。具体而言，照顾意愿与高年级（OR=3.58，95%CI=1.24-10.37，p=0.019）、新冠疫情相关知识水平较高（OR=1.03，95%CI=1.00-1.05，p=0.041）、乐观的认为新冠疫情可以被克服的态度（OR=1.63，95%CI=1.24-2.14，p<0.001）和增加感染预防行为（OR=1.41，95%CI=1.16-1.71，p<0.001）有关。
研究结果表明，对新冠疫情的了解程度较高、持乐观态度和采取预防行为会影响学生照顾新冠患者的意愿。在课程早期纳入灾难准备课程可以提高未来医护人员照顾患者的意愿。
