Results
Study participants (n= 2,589) had a mean age of 29.3 years and more than
half (51.5%) were females (Table 1). Most of the participants were from
Egypt (n=819 40.8%), followed by East Mediterranean countries (Jordan,
Syria, Palestine, Lebanon) and Iraq. More than 80% of the participants
lived in urban areas (including capital cities). About 75% of the
participants had, as a highest level of pharmacy education, either a
bachelor degree in pharmacy or Pharm. D., while the rest were either
pharmacy students or technicians, or they had received other
post-graduate degrees. The majority were alumni of public universities
(75.7%). More than half of the participants were practicing pharmacy
either in community pharmacy or in hospital, years of work-experience
tended to be short, i.e. less than and up to 5 years, and number of
attended professional development workshops was low on average.
While only 30% of the participants had received enough education about
epidemics/ pandemics and updates about coronavirus treatment, 91.2% of
them do follow the latest corona virus updates on the treatment. Results
were almost similar across all regions (Figure 2). As for the sources of
information about coronavirus treatment among the study participants,
60.8% reported that they sourced their information from social media,
followed by WHO reports and published articles (Figure 3).
Awareness scores (out of 20) were very similar across regions (Table 2),
with a mean of 13.9 (out of a maximum of 20), no statistically
significant difference was found between the regions (n= 2589, p= 0.193,
one way ANOVA). A significant correlation between awareness scores
across study countries was found (p= 0.026, Pearson correlation= -0.054)
with the COVID-19 mortality statistics as they stood on the 15th of
March 2020 for the countries which had at least one case at the
beginning of the study25. Awareness score was
higher in countries with lower mortality. No significant correlation was
noted with other statistics of COVID-19 cases and deaths as they stood
15th of March, and 1st and 15th of April 2020.
Table 3 presents the total percentage and percentage of participants
from the participating countries answering each of the awareness
statements correctly. Interestingly, univariate analysis of the
awareness score versus chosen independent variables showed significant
association with many variables. This was reflected in the linear
regression results, where older age participants, graduates of public
universities versus private universities, higher annual attendance rates
at professional workshops yearly, participants who practice in community
pharmacy and hospital settings, participants who reported to have had
previous knowledge from their graduating institute, participants who
sourced their information about COVID-19from published studies, and
those who were highly satisfied with their knowledge after 4 months of
COVID-19 had higher knowledge scores (Table 4).
More than 90% of participants agreed with the statements provided
regarding the role of the faculties/educational institutes expect for
the statement ‘your faculty has a role in preparing you to deal with any
epidemic/pandemic’ (74.8%). As for the role of the pharmaceutical
associations, more than 90% of pharmacists agreed with the statements
provided except for ‘pharmacists associations and societies have a role
in preparing you to deal with epidemics/pandemics such as the
coronavirus’. More than 80% of participants agreed with the statements
provided regarding their role as pharmacists with the highest percentage
being about the statement ‘you ensure your personal safety by wearing
gloves and masks and avoid close contact with patients’. Significant
differences were seen regarding the regional distribution of study
participants’ perceptions about the current role of the faculties of
pharmacies/educational institutes with regards to dealing with
epidemics/pandemics and coronavirus specifically (n= 1998), while no
significant differences were seen with regards to perceptions about the
current role of pharmacists’ associations and societies and current role
of pharmacists (Figure 4, Table 5).
Most pharmacists believed that working in the pharmacy increases their
fears about getting infected with coronavirus (n= 2131, 82.3% strongly
agree/agree). Significant differences found between regions (p=0.009).
In addition, participants believed that they should receive training
programs on how to provide mental health support for people during
epidemic and pandemic outbreaks (n= 2257, 87.7% strongly agree/agree)
with no significant difference found between the regions (p=0.426).