According to the World Health Organization (WHO), viral diseases continue to emerge and represent a critical issue for public health. Over the past two decade, many viral infection such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) from 2002 to 2003 and H1N1 influenza in 2009 have been recorded. Recently,  Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was first diagnosed  in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and now the new Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has hit the world. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and was first detected in the city of  Wuhan in China in December 2019 and on January 30, 2020, was declared a health emergency. On March 11the WHO declared the disease a global pandemic. This new virus has spread rapidly around the world, afflicting 215 countries [1]. As of October 27, 2021, more than 24,45,06,892 cases and 49,63,828 deaths have been reported globally [2].

The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in India was reported on January 30, 2020 in the state of Kerala and since then the cases have been continuously increasing. Various efforts by the government like nationwide lockdown since 24^th March 2020, upgrading the necessary health care facility, etc. have kept a check on rapid spread of the disease [3].

Nurses play a vital role in health care system and in the health care team. All health care providers especially nurses, are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic and provide services to patients who are helpful in preventing and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic [4]. 

Need of the Study

As the outbreak of coronavirus infection spreads around the world, cases in India are increasing rapidly. India is currently in the second stage and is in danger of entering the third stage. Therefore, in order to combat and prevent the spread of this highly contagious virus and to prevent it from spreading to further stages, it is necessary to have adequate knowledge among staff nurses. Nurses are at the front line of the COVID-19 outbreak and as a result are exposed to hazards that put them at risk of infection. Hazards include pathogen exposure, long working hours, psychological distress, fatigue, occupational burnout, stigma and physical and psychological violence [5]. Therefore it is essential to evaluate the knowledge regarding COVID-19 among staff nurses working in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital Shimla (H.P).

Objectives of the Study:

• To assess the level of knowledge regarding COVID-19 among staff nurses

• To develop and administer information booklet regarding COVID-19 among staff nurses

• To evaluate the effectiveness of information booklet regarding COVID-19 among staff nurses

• To find out the association between knowledge score among the staff nurses regarding COVID-19 with selected demographic variables

• Research Approach: Quantitative Research Approach 

• Research Design: Pre-Experimental (one group pre-test post- test) research design

• Setting of the study: Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital Shimla (H.P)

• Study Population: Staff Nurses Working in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital Shimla (H.P)

• Sample Size: About 60 Staff Nurses 

• Sampling Technique: Non-Probability, Convenience sampling technique 

Informed Consent

Was taken from selected staff nurses and confidentiality of the teachers was also maintained.

Inclusive Criteria

Staff Nurses available during the period of data collection in study setting and who were willing to participate in the study. 

Exclusive Criteria

Staff Nurses who were not willing to participate in the study and who were not present during data collection.

Development of Tool

Self-structured knowledge questionnaire. 

Description of Tool

Section A: This part consist of personal information such as age, religion, professional qualification, income, marital status, years of experience, area of working, source of information, have you attended any workshop on COVID-19, have you attended any COVID-19 patients.

Section: B

There were 30 self-structured knowledge questionnaire having four options. The nurses has to choose right one. One mark was given for each correct answer and zero for incorrect answer. The maximum score was 30 and minimum score was zero:

Validity of Tool

By the experts in this field.

Section A: Findings Related to Socio-Demographic Variables in Terms of Frequency and Percentage: This Table 1 depicts that Out of 60 staff nurses, 48.3% staff nurses were in age group of 26-30 years, 26.7% were in 31-35 years and 23.3% were in 21-25 years, 1.7% staff nurses in the age group of above 35 years. As per religion, majority 96.7% staff nurses were Hindu followed by 1.7% staff nurses were Sikh and Christian.  

With respect to educational qualification, 43.3% staff nurses had done GNM followed by 33.3% had done Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing, 20.0% had done B.Sc. Nursing and 3.3% staff nurses had done M.Sc. Nursing. With respect to monthly income, 51.7% were having monthly income of Rs. 12000-18000, 35.0% staff nurses were having monthly income above Rs.30000, 6.7% were having monthly income of Rs. 18001-24000 and Rs. 24001-30000. As per marital status, 50.0% staff nurses were married and 48.3% were unmarried whereas 1.7% was widow. Most of staff nurses 75.0%had 0-5 years of experience followed by 21.7% staff nurses had 5-10 years of experience, 3.3% had 10-15 years of experience. As per area of working, 41.7% staff nurses were working in ward followed by 33.3% were working in ICU, 11.7% were working in OT, 6.7% were working in OPD and other department. As per the source of information, 66.7% staff nurses had information from health care professionals, 25.0% had information from social media, 6.7% had information from research articles and 1.7% had information from television. Out of 60 staff nurses, 61.7% staff nurses had not attended workshop on COVID-19, 38.3% had attended workshop on COVID-19. 100% study subjects had attended COVID-19 patients.

Table 1: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Staff Nurses according to Demographic Variables

Section B: Findings Related to Pre-Test Knowledge Score Regardingcovid-19 among Staff Nurses

The data presented in the Table 2 show that 1.7% had inadequate knowledge, 93.3% had moderate knowledge, 5% had adequate knowledge regarding COVID-19.

Table 2:   Frequency and Percentage Distribution for Pre-Test Level of Knowledge Regarding COVID-19

Section C: Findings Related to Post-Test Knowledge Score Regarding Covid-19 among Staff Nurses

The data present in the Table 3 shows that none of the sample falls in inadequate category, where as 33.3% had moderate knowledge and 66.7% had adequate knowledge score.

Table 3: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Post-Test Level of Knowledge Regarding COVID-19

Section D: Findings Related to Effectiveness of Informational Booklet Regarding COVID-19

Table 4 shows that by using paired t–test, it was found that there is significant change in post-test knowledge score of samples. The pre-test and post-test mean score for knowledge regarding COVID-19 were 15.62 and 21.47 respectively. Standard deviation for pre-test and post-test was 2.793 and 2.626 respectively. Range for pre-test was 10-23 and for post-test, it was 16-27. Mean difference was 5.850. Paired t-test value was 50.423 and table value was 2.00at degree of freedom 59 and significance level 0.05. The calculated t-test value was more than table value which show significance.

Table 4: Comparison of Pre and Post-Test Scores with Paired T-Test

*Significance Level 0.05

Section E: Findings Related to Association of Knowledge Regarding COVID-19 among Staff Nurses with their Selected Socio-Demographic Variables

The calculated Chi-square value shows that there is significance association between the knowledge score level with demographic variables (Professional Qualification). The calculated chi-square values were more than the Table 5 value at the 0.05 level of significance There is significance association between the knowledge score level and other demographic variables such as Age, religion, income, marital status, years of experience, area of working, source of information, have you attended any workshop on COVID-19, have you attended any COVID-19 patient. The calculated chi-square values were less than the table value at the 0.05 level of significance.

Table 5: Association of Pre-Test Knowledge Scores with Selected Socio-Demographic Variables

There is  no significance association between the level of knowledge score and socio demographic variables such as Age, religion, income, marital status, years of experience, area of working, source of information, have you attended any workshop on COVID-19, have you attended any COVID-19 patient. The calculated chi-square values were less than the Table 6 value at the 0.05 level of significance.

Table 6: Association of Post-Test Knowledge Scores with Selected Socio-Demographic Variables (N = 60)

Result of study shows that in pre-test majority of study subject 93.3 had moderate knowledge, 1.7% had inadequate knowledge, 5% had adequate knowledge regarding COVID-19. In post-test majority of study subject 66.7% had adequate knowledge, 33.3% had moderate knowledge and 0% had inadequate knowledge regarding COVID-19. The mean post- test knowledge score 21.47 is apparently higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score 15.62. From the findings of the study, it was concluded that information booklet was useful in improving the knowledge level of staff nurses regarding COVID-19.

Recommendations for the Future Studies

Based on the findings of the present study recommendations offered for the future study are:

• A similar study can be replicated on a large scale to generalized the findings

• An experimental study can be undertaken with control group for effective comparison

• The comparative study may be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various teaching strategies like self instructional module, informational booklets and educational pamphlets on the same topic

• A similar study can be conducted on the nursing students

• A comparative study can be conducted with degree students and diploma students

A similar study can be conducted to assess the attitude, practice of staff nurses regarding COVID-19.

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2. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. World Health Organization, November 2021, covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOMBhCZARIsAGEd4VEsS1i4gVHDre9CE9myoYWXkE5PFiLksLGJIynPX8QVMu4oC11XU0YaAtGLEALw_wcB.

3. Patil, S.B. “Indian Publications on SARS-CoV-2: A Bibliometric Study of WHO COVID-19 Database.” Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, vol. 14, no. 5, 2020, pp. 1171–1178. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7348603/.

4. Joshi, P.K. et al. “Knowledge and awareness among nursing students regarding the COVID-19: A cross-sectional study.” International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, vol. 7, no. 7, 2020, pp. 2518–2522. ijcmph.com.

5. Deccan Education Society’s Smt... – Fergusson University. October 2021, fergusson.edu/upload/document/67472__ADITIADVANKAR(SSKJCN).pdf.