Abstract

Introduction: Since nurses are responsible for caring of patients, increasing their knowledge will lead to better care. Here, we measured nurses’ COVID-19 knowledge in the teaching hospitals of Ilam.

Materials and Methods: In this study, descriptive-analytical approach was used for data collection using a self-assessment questionnaire including demographic information and 12 questions about nurses' knowledge of COVID-19 disease. The data were collected in May 2020 and analyzed by SPSS 19 software. The significance level was considered at P <0.05.

Results: Overall, 134 (72.4%) and 51 (27.6%) of the participants were males and females, respectively. The mean score of knowledge about COVID-19 disease was 6.04± 0.45. Nearly half of the nurses (45.4%) had good knowledge on the source of the disease, signs and symptoms, transmission routes, and progression and mortality rate of COVID-19.

Conclusion: Most of the nurses had intermediate knowledge about COVID-19. However, it is essential for the Ministry of Health to provide accurate and coherent information according to the WHO guidelines.

Keywords: COVID-19, nurses, Iran, Ilam, knowledge.