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Hospital Pharmacy 55(2)

Figure 1. Level of education and profession.

and 72 (48.3%) were more than or equal to graduate participants. Discipline of majority of the study participants was
medical technology (80; 53.7%), followed by nurses (38;
25.5%) and doctors (31; 20.8%). Majority of the study
respondents were undergraduate medical students (60; 75%)
as compared with medical technologist and the nurses (17;
24.6%) with a P value < .001 as shown in Figure 1.
Comparison of knowledge about Ebola virus disease
among the doctors and other HCW is shown in Table 2. The
mean for correct responses was 8.43 ± 4.08 (range: 3-17).
Appropriate knowledge was observed in 84 (56.4%) responders and inappropriate knowledge was observed in 65 (43.6%)
of the study respondents. Univariate analysis showed that
appropriate knowledge was 11% less likely among males as
compared with the females (odds ratio [OR]: 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43-1.83). Similarly, appropriate
knowledge was 40% less likely among the undergraduate
students as compared with more than or equal to graduate
study participants (OR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.31-1.16). Among
nurses and medical technologist, appropriate knowledge was
found 69% more likely as compared with more than equal to
doctors (OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 0.87-3.29).
Moreover, appropriate knowledge was 70% less likely
among participants with no experience (OR: 0.30, 95% CI:
0.10-0.85) and 71% less likely among participants with ≤5
years of experience (OR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.1-0.86) as compared to participants with >5 years of work experience. In
multivariate analysis, appropriate knowledge was found
32% more likely among medical technologist and the nurses
as compared with doctors after adjusting for other variables
(adjusted OR [AOR]: 1.32, 95% CI: 0.58-3.01). Appropriate
knowledge was 58% less likely among participants with no
experience (AOR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.06-2.78) and 73% less

likely among participants with ≤5 years of experience (OR:
0.27, 95% CI: 0.07-1.05) as compared to participants with
>5 years of experience after adjusting for other variables.
Regression analysis is shown in Table 3.

Discussion
The results of our study about awareness to Ebola virus disease carried out among the health care professionals of a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, elucidate significant
findings. According to the findings of our study, overall
majority had an appropriate level of knowledge about the
Ebola virus consistent to other analogous studies.10,11
However, a significant difference is observed between the
disciplines of health care professionals who were included
into our study. Approximately, 44% of the health care professionals other than doctors were found to have better knowledge about Ebola virus as compared with doctors parallel to
results of a similar study.12 This was perhaps mainly because
of the specific training provided to the participants about
Ebola virus disease that led to improvement in the knowledge of HCWs about Ebola virus disease (EVD).
A substantial majority of the health care professionals
enrolled into our study considered Ebola virus risky as
responded by 49% of the doctors and 68% of other participants. This finding can be regarded as crucial in determining
the self-safety perception of health care professionals who
are among the first to implement infection control measures.10 According to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report (MMWR) by Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC; 2014), Ebola virus disease outbreak in
Guinea, West Africa, during 2013 to 2015 posed huge threat
largely to the HCWs. Health care professionals are among
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