Abstract
Background As the disease caused by the new coronavirus has spread globally, economic instability in healthcare systems has been significant, and the lack of knowledge, positive attitudes and appropriate practices among people has led to the magnification of this disease. This reality is especially accentuated in Ecuador where, although many healthcare workers have been called to help in the regions most affected, the shortage of them combined with cultural and macroeconomic factors have led Ecuador to face the most aggressive outbreak in Latin America. In this context, the participation on the front line of final year medical students is indispensable. For that reason, appropriate training on COVID-19 for final year medical students is an urgent need that universities and health systems must guarantee. We aimed to describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices in Ecuadorian final year medical students in order to identify the knowledge gaps, perceptions and behavior patterns which could guide the design of better medical education curricula regarding COVID-19.
Methods This was a cross-sectional 33-item online survey conducted between April 6 to April 20 assessing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and prognosis toward COVID-19 in Ecuadorian final year medical students. It was sent by email and by Facebook and WhatsApp.
Results A total of 309 students responded to the survey. 88% of students scored high (≥ 70% correct) for knowledge of the disease. The majority of students were pessimistic about possible government actions, which is reflected in the negative attitude towards the control of COVID-19 in Ecuador and volunteering during the outbreak (77%, and 58% of the students, respectively). Moreover, 91% of students said they did not have adequate protective equipment or training in their health facilities.
Conclusions The high level of students’ knowledge, with coexisting negative attitudes, suggests Ecuador has a capable upcoming workforce that could benefit from an opportunity to strengthen, improve and advance their training in preparation for COVID-19. Creating a national curriculum may be one of the most effective ways for all students to be trained, while simultaneously focusing on the students’ most pressing concerns. Hopefully with this, negative attitudes will improve and students will be better qualified.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Funding Statement
The authors had no funding for this article.
Author Declarations
I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The Institutional Review Board at Universidad Central del Ecuador determined that this research was exempt from full board review
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Paper in collection COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, California Institute of Technology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Imperial College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Washington, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.