Abstract

Introduction: Even though efforts at global and national levels have been attempted to decrease the COVID-19 pandemic, low levels of preparedness of healthcare providers have been a challenge to combat the spread of COVID-19 nowadays predominantly in developing countries like Ethiopia. Hence, this study aimed to assess the level of preparedness of frontline healthcare providers to combat the spread of COVID-19 and associated factors in South Gondar Public Hospitals, Northcentral, Ethiopia.

Methods and materials: Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 207 selected healthcare providers who were working in South Gondar public hospital from July 08 to August 29, 2020. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The healthcare providers were selected through simple random sampling techniques. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression with a 95% confidence interval were fitted to establish the associated factors with a low level of preparedness. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The overall level of preparedness among healthcare providers for COVID-19 was found to be 41.3% (95% CI: 37.4, 44.7). Only 81 (40.1%) healthcare providers had prepared for telling their family and friends if they are infected with COVID-19. Factors associated with a low level of preparedness include being male (AOR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.22–4.94), unmarried (AOR=3.4, 95% CI: 1.44–8.00), and working experience greater than five years (AOR=0.29, 95% CI: 0.11–0.77).

Conclusion: The level of preparedness among frontline healthcare providers for COVID-19 was lower than the minimum standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Hence, South Gondar health administrators and policymakers have better to help the healthcare providers to meet at least the minimum standard set by the WHO since most of the required materials are easily affordable. Furthermore, giving more emphasis to healthcare providers who were male, unmarried, and working experience of less than five years

Keywords: Preparedness, Factors, Healthcare providers, COVID-19, Northcentral, Ethiopia