Knowledge, practice and technique of facemask usage among healthcare workers in a tertiary hospital in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

Infection prevention and control remains very key to safety in healthcare settings and community. The use of personal protective equipment is now more relevant especially with the advent of COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and technique of wearing facemask among healthcare workers at Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study explored knowledge, attitude and reported practice on the use of facemask. Also, a checklist was used to directly observe how participants put on and remove facemasks.

RESULTS

Of the 450 respondents, 316 (70.2%) had good knowledge score. Only 255 (56.7%) had good attitude and barely half of the respondents 229 (50.9%) had good practice. However, the majority of those who were observed had good technique of wearing facemask 387 (86.4%). Also, 188 (41.8%) of the healthcare workers believed that face shield alone offers adequate protection against transmission of COVID-19.

CONCLUSIONS

Our finding suggests that knowledge does not translate to good practice. Furthermore, the fact that two out of every five healthcare workers held erroneous belief about face shield, and another one-third had poor knowledge points to the need for training and retraining of healthcare workers with the aim of reinforcing the need for consistent and correct use of facemasks. This should have a salubrious effect on the community knowledge of COVID-19 prevention as healthcare workers are believed to be the most common sources of health information to the lay public.