KNOWLEDGE OF COVID-19 AND POST-ACUTE COVID-19 AMONG PHARMACISTS IN MALAYSIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY

Background: Coronavirus-19 has raised concerns as it causes post-acute symptoms among individuals. Appropriate knowledge, attitude, and practice with regards to COVID-19, and its post-acute complications among pharmacists is required for optimum management. Identifying the barriers, and facilitators encountered by pharmacists in providing care to these patients is also vital. The objectives of this study were to determine the knowledge, attitude, practice of COVID-19 and post-acute COVID-19, barriers, and facilitators among pharmacists. Materials & method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among pharmacists registered and practicing in Malaysia with consent. An online survey was used to distribute the questionnaire using Google Form through convenient sampling. A questionnaire consisting of four sections was used in the study based on previous work. Data obtained in this study was interpreted using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) (version 28; IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). A p-value of <0.05 demonstrated statistically significant findings. Results: From a total of 405 pharmacists, the knowledge, attitude and practice score of the pharmacists was an average of 5.69 (+/- 0.78) (maximum score 7), 3.56 (+/- 0.63) (maximum score 4) and 3.38 (+/- 0.61) (maximum score 4) respectively. A significant negative correlation was seen between COVID-19 knowledge, and attitude (r=0.16; p=0.001), while a positive correlation was seen between knowledge, and practice (r=0.11; p=0.025). The score for knowledge on post-acute COVID-19 was an average of 12.93 (+/- 2.44) (maximum 20). 82.2% (n=333) respondents agreed that difficulty in accessing patient's clinical data was a barrier, whilst 95.6% (n=387) agreed support of healthcare system was regarded as the most common facilitator. Conclusion: There is a need for continuous education of COVID-19 as well as post-acute COVID-19 to ensure optimal management of patients.