50 Majmaah Journal of Health Sciences ,Vol. 10, Issue 1, January - 2022, Jumada Al Thani - 1443 Evaluation of Perception, Perspective and Practice toward Coronavirus disease - 2019 outbreak among the Eye Care Professionals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Original Article : Evaluation of Perception, Perspective and Practice toward Coronavirus disease - 2019 outbreak among the Eye Care Professionals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Sultan H. AlRashidi. MD 1 1.Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Received: Nov 06, 2021 Accepted: Dec 14, 2021 dx.doi.org/10.5455/mjhs.2022.01.007 Corresponding Author: Sultan Alrashidi Anterior segment and refractive surgery consultant, Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia, Postal Zip: 4490 Phone numbers: +966500345634 E-mail address: sultanabc@gmail.com, sultanophthal.2020@gmail.com Abstract Background & Aims: Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards precautionary measures are important in limiting the COVID-19 spread. This study aims to assess the Saudi ophthalmic healthcare workers’ awareness, attitude, and practice towards the spread and prevention of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted through a social media web based survey on 800 ophthalmic health- care workers between September 2020 and November 2020. A 38-item questionnaire comprised socio-demo- graphic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice related questions were distributed to eye care pro- fessionals. The Kruskal Wallis test and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the awareness level scores among ophthalmic health workers groups. Results: Among 800 participants, 10.5% were ophthalmologists, 21.3% were optometrists and ophthalmic assistants and 68.3% were ophthalmic nurses. Nearly 90% showed adequate awareness, positive viewpoints, and better practices towards COVID-19 and its management. Ophthalmic nurses and ophthalmologists showed greater knowledge, a better attitude, and optimal practices when compared with optometrists and ophthalmic assis- tants’ groups (p˂ 0.05). Seventy-fve percent were aware that conjunctivitis and conjunctival congestion are seen in established COVID-19 patients. However, 57.8% of practitioners reported avoiding patients who seek eye care with the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, whereas 31.8% were willing to render eye care to these patients. Conclusion: Two-thirds of the eye care professionals were not willing to provide eye care services for the patients who presents with COVID-19 symptoms. Hence, a comprehensive health education and infection control practices Distributed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0