Knowledge, practices and attitudes toward volunteer work in an influenza pandemic: cross-sectional study with Peruvian medical students

INTRODUCTION Reductions in health personnel during disasters or epidemics such as an influenza pandemic may need to include volunteer students. OBJECTIVE The aim of this article is to determine knowledge and practices about pandemic influenza and the attitudes towards volunteer work in Peruvian medical students. METHODS We performed a cross- sectional analytic study by simple sampling using a survey regarding " knowledge and practices" about pandemic influenza and the attitudes to volunteer work. RESULTS From the group of 865 students who were surveyed, 848 accepted to participate in the investigation ( 54% were male and their mean age was 22.1 +/- 3.0). Ninety- seven percent correctly identified the spread routes of influenza and 81% knew its treatment. Regarding preventive measures, covering the mouth when coughing/ sneezing and hand- washing were the most commonly recognized options ( 95% y 92%, respectively), and vaccination was the less recognized one ( 54%). The most common practice, readily acknowledged as preventive, was covering when coughing/ sneezing ( 86%). Regarding volunteer works, students answered that it is a moral/ ethical/ professional obligation ( 77%); that a contingency university service needs to be established ( 88%), that it does not have to substitute for the lack of workers ( 49%), and that its role should be related to hospital work ( 83%). Coming from a public university was more associated to the concept that volunteer work was a moral obligation and that the student should be punished if he/ she refuses to be a volunteer, whereas being from a private university was more related to a history of been involved in volunteering programs. CONCLUSIONS In general, medical students have good knowledge and practices toward influenza. There is a good disposition to volunteer their work and skills, recognizing it as a moral/ ethical/ professional obligation.