Abstract
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing public health issue, which threatens the lives of more than 2.4 million people worldwide. This study's purpose is to establish paramedics' knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. An online cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among paramedics in four hospitals via WhatsApp Messenger. The study population was composed of paramedics aged 18 years and above. A pre-validated questionnaire was used to evaluate KAP towards COVID-19. Bloom's cut-off of 80% was used to assess sufficient knowledge (>= 80%), positive attitude (>= 4), and good practice (>= 2.4). All analyses were performed using SPSS version 26 of the approaching 300 paramedics, 71 (24%) responded. The majority of participants were male (n=61, n=85.9%), with an average age of 33 (range: 18- 57) years. Overall, 4.2% (n=3) had sufficient knowledge, 42% ( n=30) had a positive attitude, and 4% (n=4) had good practice regarding to COVID-19. There was a statistically significant difference between paramedics' KAP according to their socio-demographic characteristics. Younger paramedics (>= 18) have sufficient knowledge and a good practice toward COVID-19 than older paramedics (>= 37) (p=0.000, p=0.005), respectively. Older paramedics (>= 37) have a positive attitude towards COVID-19 relative to younger paramedics (>= 18) ( p=0.000). A statistically significant difference between the total KAP and the level of education (p=0.000) at which the diploma (p=0.000) had sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 than the bachelors and the postgraduate level. Bachelor's and graduates have a positive attitude (p=0.000) towards COVID-19 than the diploma. Saudi paramedics have poor knowledge of COVID-19. In addition, the results of this study have shown that there are statistically significant differences in KAPs' paramedics according to their demographic characteristics. The author suggests follow-up studies concerning emergency medical services (EMS) settings around the country. Relevance to clinical practice: Ongoing professional education program for Saudi paramedics is encouraged to improve knowledge of paramedics, thus preventing negative attitudes and encouraging constructive preventive and therapeutic practices. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.