Medical Students were Well-Educated about the Coronavirus – A recent research supports the statement.

There had been many active efforts to spread awareness about COVID-19 and respective preventive measures among the general public. However, we expect medical students to possess more knowledge and awareness about the disease. A cross-sectional study containing a sample of medical students from the CMH Lahore Medical College (LMC) confirms that medical students were more aware and knowledgeable about the spread and prevention measures of COVID-19.

Medical students are expected to have more knowledge and awareness about existing and emerging diseases as they are directly associated with the medical industry. To test their awareness and knowledge about the global pandemic COVID-19, three students from 2nd year of MBBS ( Afzal Ikhlaq, Hanniya Bint-e-Riaz, and Imtiaz Bashir) conducted a cross-sectional study in co-authorship with Dr. Farhat Ijaz from the Department of Physiology, CMH LMC & IOD (Institute of Dentistry), Lahore, Pakistan.

Exploring the disease from a medical point of view, the authors provided that 2019-nCoV belongs to the Coronaviridae family which is commonly called Coronavirus. These viruses are RNA-enveloped and cause neurological, respiratory, and hepatic diseases. They have a fast distribution rate among humans, mammals, and birds.

In humans, six species of corona viruses mainly cause the disease and out of these six, four species are more frequent and cause symptoms to occur. These four species include 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1.

The study further elaborates that Coronavirus is different from other enveloped viruses due to its replicative cycle and its envelope being derived from the host cell’s endoplasmic reticulum while other envelopes are derived from the plasma membrane.

This differentiation may add to the pathogenicity of the Coronavirus. Spike, Envelope, and Membrane proteins are stated to present in Coronavirus, and from these, “Spike proteins are found to have a role in the attachment and recognition of the virus to the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptors of the human epithelial cells in the respiratory mucosa. This characteristic of Coronavirus is similar to the infections caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)”.

This kind of professional and purely scientific and medical knowledge is not expected to be possessed by the general public or students from other disciplines. Since medical students are directly associated with such pandemics and possess medical knowledge, they are expected to be more knowledgeable and show a more responsible attitude towards such diseases. Based on this logic, the current study’s objective was to assess the level of awareness and attitude of medical students towards coronavirus, COVID-19.

The study selected undergraduate students from MBBS, BDS, Allied Health Sciences and Nursing, and others who showed a willingness to become part of the study, from CMH, Lahore, and Institute of Dentistry (IOD) in Feb 2020. The researchers distributed a questionnaire consisting of four main parts ( i)demographic profile, ii) questions related to awareness iii) questions related to attitude, and iv) information regarding the source of knowledge) among a sample of 384 students.

The study used SPSS version 25.0 for the analysis of responses and all the qualitative variables are presented in the form of frequencies and percentages. The results are quite interesting!

According to the referred study, about 80 percent of medical students had enough knowledge about coronavirus. The discipline and year of the study were found to be positively linked with better information and a more serious attitude towards the disease. Nursing and MBBS students, having higher years of the study showed more serious attitudes and possessed higher levels of awareness and knowledge.

However, an amazing thing that researchers found through this analysis is that 44 percent of the students were not worried that any of their family members might get infected with the corona virus. This indicates the need for raising proper awareness regarding the severity of the condition and the need for adopting preventive measures.

The researchers asserted the need of carrying out serious steps at the government level and covering the communication gap existing between the public and government. For this purpose, the government can direct healthcare authorities to run social media campaigns, arrange seminars, improve medical curriculum and run awareness advertisements.

Although the study revealed that medical students possess a positive attitude and reasonable knowledge about the pandemic, even more efforts and curriculum upgrades are needed to address the shortcomings of the existing system.

Reference:

Ikhlaq, A., Hunniya, B. E., Riaz, I. B., & Ijaz, F. (2020). Awareness and attitude of undergraduate medical students towards 2019-novel corona virus. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 36(COVID19-S4), S32.