Evaluation of knowledge, experience and perceptions about medical emergencies amongst dental graduates (Interns) of Belgaum City, India

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of dentists in the management of medical emergencies in India: A cross-sectional study

Background

A medical emergency is an acute, unanticipated medical reaction or complication that threatens the patient's life or health and necessitates rapid attention or intervention. Since these emergencies can be life-threatening, the dentist's readiness is critical to avoid morbidity, mortality, and legal complications. Therefore, this study aims to assess dental students' and practitioners' knowledge, attitude, and practice in managing medical emergencies in India.

Material and methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted at a private dental institute among 420 participants (318 males and 102 females) using a customized questionnaire consisting of sixteen questions - one open-ended and fifteen closed-ended. The data obtained was analysed using Chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann -Whitney U test, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient test.

Results

Out of the 420 respondents, 416 (99.05 %) respondents believed that it is essential to obtain patients' vital signs (blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, temperature) before starting any treatment. However, 345 (82.14 %) respondents had not taken any course in managing medical emergencies and only 196 (46.67 %) respondents were confident in handling a medical emergency. There was a statistically significant association (P < 0.05) between the various qualifications and responses for the majority of the questions.

Conclusion

There is a general lack of knowledge among all the respondents and a lack of positive attitude among undergraduates in dealing with medical emergencies.

Knowledge of handling medical emergencies among general dental practitioners pan India: a cross-sectional survery

BACKGROUND

Medical emergency situations in dental clinics have been contemplated to be an issue in most of the countries by reason of dentist's lack of knowledge and preparedness to attend emergency situations in dental offices. The aim of this paper is to observe the knowledge, attitude, and perceived confidence of the general dental practitioners regarding emergency medical care and its practical application. Questionnaire on knowledge assessment was circulated among 500 dentists using printed questionnaire formats and various social media platforms. The questionnaire included details on treating hypertensive patients, cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, accessibility of medical emergency equipments in the dental clinics, prevalence of medical emergency cases in the dental office and the self-assessed competence to handle medical emergency situations in the dental clinics. Data was surveyed and scrutinized using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 17 (SPSS Inc., Chicago IL). Descriptive statistics was tabulated and Chi square tests was applied.

FINDINGS

500 general dental practitioners pan India were involved in the study (294 were females and 207 were males). They were grouped into different age groups (20-30 yrs, 30-40 yrs, 40-50 yrs, 50 and above) and experience (0-5 yrs, 5-10 yrs and more than 10 years). 279 participants did not attend any medical emergency training whereas, 222 participants from all groups attended training program. It was observed that with increased experience in the field, the knowledge, awareness and confidence to treat medical emergency situation in the dental clinics was better. Dentists should update themselves from time-to-time with the latest technologies in the field and need to attend training programs to handle any medical emergency situations in the dental offices. Medical emergencies in a dental clinic can be encountered at any point of time and the clinician should have apt knowledge in handling such situations. Majority of the dentists feel subdued in managing medical situations in dental offices. Training and workshops for handling medical situations in the dental offices should be mandated at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This will help the dentist to shape one's confidence in managing such situations without apprehension. Availability of proper infrastructure and equipments is recommended in every dental clinics so as to ease the handling of the situation.

CONCLUSION

This paper enlightens the need of basic life support training on regular basis among the dentists to improve the competence among them and to improve the confidence in handling such situations.

A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating the Knowledge and Attitude of Health Professions Students in Saudi Arabia: Are They Ready for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation?

INTRODUCTION

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training is important for students of health professions to learn and be prepared to perform. Colleges have a responsibility to provide adequate training for their students to ensure that they are ready and confident to deal with life-threatening situations. However, studies have shown that some graduates and practitioners lack sufficient knowledge in performing CPR. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge of health professions students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) who have started clinical practice.  Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in February 2022 and included health professions students in all academic years, including interns and residents, across colleges of King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, KSA. The study questionnaire consisted of three sections: attitudes, knowledge, and demographics. The attitudes section included 11 questions, while the knowledge section included 10. The demographic section included university level, Grade Point Average (GPA), CPR training status, willingness to learn CPR, witnessing CPR, and family history of cardiac disease. Statistical analysis was conducted using chi-squared tests, t-tests, two-sample proportion tests, ANOVA, and bivariate correlation analyses.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 21.2 (±1.9) years. Participants had a mean knowledge score of 5.1 (±1.8) out of 10 potential points. Also, the participants had a total attitude score of 42.7 (±6.2) out of 55 potential points.

CONCLUSION

The study highlights the importance of CPR training for healthcare providers and the need for ongoing training to maintain knowledge and skills. The results suggest that attitudes towards providing CPR may be influenced by cultural beliefs and fear of liability or disease transmission. Higher participant GPA and positive attitudes towards chest compressions and CPR training were found to be associated with increased knowledge.

A Pilot Study of Preparedness of Dentists in the United Arab Emirates to Deal with Medical Emergencies

OBJECTIVES

 The purpose of this pilot study is to assess the United Arab Emirates dentists' preparedness to manage medical emergencies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 Ninety-seven licensed dentists participated in this study. Dentists responded to self-administrated questionnaires that contained 23 questions divided into five parts. The first part collected data on participants' sex, years of experience, and whether they are general dental practitioner (GDP) or specialists. The second part included seven questions that asked participants to indicate if they took medical history, obtained vital signs, and attended basic life support courses. The third part included six multiple choice questions regarding the availability of emergency drugs in the dental clinic. The fourth part consisted of three multiple-choice questions that assessed the dentists' immediate response to a medical emergency. Finally, the fifth part comprised four questions to evaluate the dentists' knowledge of proper treatment of special emergency cases they may encounter in the dental offices.

RESULTS

 Out of the 97 participants, only 51% (N = 49) indicated that they can handle emergencies such as anaphylactic shock and syncope in the dental office. The majority of the dentists (80%) indicated that they have emergency kits. Only 46% of the specialists and 42% of the GDPs were able to correctly plan extractions in a patient with a prosthetic heart valve. Less than half of the participants (N = 35, 36%) were able to correctly answer the question regarding management of a foreign-body aspiration by attempting Heimlich/Triple maneuver.

CONCLUSIONS

 Within the limitations of this study, dentists need further hands-on training to improve their skills and knowledge about medical emergencies that could occur in the dental settings. Furthermore, we recommend that guidelines should be available in the clinic to strengthen the dentists' ability to deal with medical emergencies.

Construction of a competency framework of dental hygienists: A Delphi study

AIM

To explore the basic and core competencies of dental hygienists, construct a systematic and scientific competency framework for dental hygienists taking into account China's national conditions and provide a theoretical basis for the future training in China and other countries that have not yet established the competencies of dental hygienists.

BACKGROUND

The establishment of dental hygienists role is essential for the public to improve the dental health level. Currently, more than 50 countries around the world have established the role of dental hygienists and defined the core competencies needed by dental hygienists. However, studies on developing a standardized and unified consensus of competencies of dental hygienists are lacking in China.

METHODS

Based on the literature review and theoretical research, this study explored the theoretical basis and fundamental principle of constructing the competency framework for dental hygienists. Moreover, a correspondence questionnaire on dental hygienists' competency framework was initially constructed to clarify the specific content of each competency. Finally, the Delphi method was adopted to establish the indicators of the dental hygienists' competency framework according to the principle of expert selection and inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

The three rounds of Delphi consultation experts were from nursing, stomatology and management and other fields. Three rounds of Delphi results showed that the expert authority, enthusiasm and coordination coefficients were high. Thereafter, a competency framework of dental hygienists with 4 primary indicators, 15 secondary indicators and 50 tertiary indicators was constructed, which included theoretical knowledge, professional skills, professional abilities and occupational qualities.

CONCLUSION

Literature and theoretical research methods along with Delphi expert consultation were used to construct the competency framework of dental hygienists based on the onion model. The competency framework of dental hygienists was scientific, reasonable and practical, which is consistent with the current health situation in China and has distinct Chinese characteristics. Some of our findings, offer ideas for other developing countries that have not yet set up the role of dental hygienists or are in an initial stage.

Are dental professionals ready to deal with medical emergencies in their clinical office? A survey of university hospitals

This research aimed to assess the availability and need of dental emergency kits in Saudi Arabia university hospitals. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 267 dentists, including undergraduate, dental interns, general dentists, and specialists in 6 university hospitals (private and government colleges). In addition, a closed-ended questionnaire was distributed through emails using the online platform. The data revealed that 49.4% of dentists faced medical emergencies. Out of them, 72.7% said that emergency kits were available in their clinics. Sugar sources and oxygen were most commonly available. On the other hand, 37.8% of dentists handled emergencies independently, 34.5% considered themselves competent with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and 28.8% were confident of using emergency (ER) drugs. The most common medical emergencies were vasovagal syncope and hypoglycemia. The emergency kit in dental clinics is relatively available, and the incidence of medical emergencies is relatively minor. However, the competence and confidence of the dentists in tackling an emergency is low, including handling of emergency (ER), knowledge of CPR, and its performance. Therefore, CPR courses should be improved and promoted more widely for this purpose.

The Knowledge and Awareness of Medical Emergencies and Management among Dental Students

Background:

Every dentist should anticipate being confronted with a medical emergency (ME), and one should always be ready to treat the most catastrophic ones.

Aim:

This study aimed to assess the knowledge of dental clinical students of Tamil Nadu in the ME understanding and management to create awareness toward patient care.

Methodology:

A total of 768 dental students, including final-year students and residents from different colleges, took part in the questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. The selection of study participants was by the convenience sampling method. The questionnaire contained thirty closed multiple-choice questions to assess their knowledge of MEs. Microsoft Office Excel software was used for compiling the answers. The descriptive analysis of the data is exhibited in graphs.

Results:

The majority of participants were mindful of the vital signs; only 55% of the participants know the importance of checking their respiration rate. The knowledge of identifying MEs such as anaphylaxis was 91%, and only 27%–37% of the respondents knew to identify angina, transient ischemia, and lidocaine toxicity. Approximately 15%–40% of the respondents only knew the management of angina, cardiac arrest, hyperventilation, respiratory obstruction, and seizure. Only 10% agreed that the best office emergency kit should be prepared by themselves. Roughly 78% of the respondents were conscious of the patient's referral whenever necessary and aware of state dental acts.

Conclusion:

This study reflects a significant need for training in executing ME among dental students who are to transmute into future dental professionals.

Measuring the Level of Medical-Emergency-Related Knowledge among Senior Dental Students and Clinical Trainers

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to measure the level of medical-emergency-related knowledge among senior dental students and clinical trainers in Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

This cross-sectional pilot survey was conducted at Taibah Dental College, Madina, Saudi Arabia between March 2017 and November 2018. Two hundred and seventy-five self-administered anonymous questionnaires on the management of common medical emergencies were distributed to all senior dental students and clinical trainers at Taibah Dental College.

RESULTS

There was a serious lack of knowledge regarding the management of medical emergency scenarios among the participants. Only 54% of participants knew the correct management for some frequent and life-threating conditions such as "crushed chest pain", and only 30-35% of participants knew the correct management of deeply sedated patients with benzodiazepine overdose and crisis of hypoadrenalism. Moderate-quality knowledge (50-74% of participants responded correctly) was noted for the following conditions: sudden onset of brain stroke, psychiatric patient, unconscious patient with hypoglycemia, patient with postural hypotension, and patient with hyperventilation. Based on the scale of knowledge, there were significant differences in the level of knowledge between clinical trainers, senior dental students, and junior dental students (p ≤ 0.01). Almost all students and 90% of trainers declared the need for further training.

CONCLUSIONS

The overall knowledge regarding the management of medical emergency crises in the dental chair was moderate. However, the scale of knowledge regarding the management of medical emergency crises has gradually increased with the number of years of experience. Most participants recognize the need for further training.

Incidence and characteristics of medical emergencies related to dental treatment: a retrospective single-center study

AIM

Although uncommon, medical emergencies arise in general dental practice. Inadequate data on their severity and frequency makes targeting medical education for general dental practitioners difficult. This also makes planning for unexpected events challenging for practitioners and makes collaborating with emergency physicians burdensome. We aimed to clarify the incidence and characteristics of a dental outpatient department's medical emergencies.

METHODS

This single-center, retrospective, observational study was undertaken with patients who visited the dental outpatient department of Okayama University Hospital during the 8-year period. The primary outcome of the study was to identify the incidence and characteristics of medical emergencies in the dental outpatient department. Then we examined the timing of medical emergencies, administered medications, and final disposition (home/admission).

RESULTS

During the period, 1,146,929 patients were enrolled. Forty-two patients (0.0037%) were consulted as medical emergencies. More than 60% of the incidents were vasovagal syncope, and dehydration and hypoglycemia were the second most prevalent at 9.5%. The most common types of dental treatments were tooth extraction (45.2%), followed by general dental treatment (28.6%), and other dental surgery such as implant placement (14.3%). Types of medical emergencies occurred equally before, during, and after dental treatment. Antihypertensive agents, sedatives, or glucose were used. For patients with emergencies, 90.5% recovered during the day and returned home, and 9.5% were hospitalized.

CONCLUSION

The incidence of medical emergencies was low in our dental outpatient department. Knowledge of basic management principles, regular education for emergency care, and practicing first aid skills are mandatory for safe patient management.

Publication trends in journal of clinical and experimental dentistry

Background

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry (J Clin Exp Dent; JCED) is an English language journal published by the Spanish Society of Oral Surgery, and has been online since 2009. It is indexed in PubMed Central and Scopus since 2012, with monthly publications since 2016. The purpose of this article was to review and analyse the publications in this journal since its inception, over a period of 11 years (2009-2019).

Material and Methods

This paper assessed the number, type and subjects of the articles published in the journal over 11 years. The institutions of the first authors, number of PubMed citations and the Hirsch (h5) index was assessed and analysed.

Results

The manuscripts published in JCED have gradually increased over the years, with Original research articles accounting for the bulk of contributions. The journal publishes articles mainly from the subjects of Oral Pathology and Operative Dentistry and Endodontics. Articles published in JCED are indexed in PubMed Central (since 2012), Scopus, DOI system, and Google Scholar. A country-wise mapping of the (first) author’s institutions revealed significant contributions from researchers from all over the world. With an h5 index of 26, the journal was ranked among the top six multispeciality journals. The most cited articles were the literature reviews on common oral lesions (recurrent apthous stomatitis and candidiasis).

Conclusions

The journal has contributed to the growth of scientific literature pertaining to subjects from all the fields of dentistry. Over the past 11 years, JCED has served as a platform for large number of manuscripts in all the disciples of dentistry, from researches all over the world.

Key words:Publication trends, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry, Bibliometrics.

Knowledge and Preparedness of Dental Practitioners on Management of Medical Emergencies in Jazan Province

Medical emergencies are one of the most stressful situations the staff in a dental practice might encounter. The duty of care toward the attending patients obligates suitable preparedness to provide the necessary care if such emergencies ensue. Unfortunately, we found that 22% of the investigated dental clinics had no emergency kit available. Only 38% of the interviewed dentists felt confident to perform CPR, and 18% had no confidence to manage any medical emergency. An MCQ test of 20 questions examining the dentists’ knowledge in medical emergencies was distributed, and the level of knowledge was found to be suboptimal. The average score of the interviewed dentists was 10.87 out of 20. Experience and specialty training had a negligible effect on the level of knowledge.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceived Confidence in the Management of Medical Emergencies in the Dental Office: A Survey among the Dental Students and Interns

Aims and Objectives

Many situations in the dental office can provoke medical emergencies. Lack of training and inability to overcome the medical emergencies can lead to serious consequences and legal actions. The aim of the study is to investigate and assess the knowledge, attitude, and perceived confidence of dental students and interns in the management of medical emergency.

Materials and Methods

A self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed to 153 of the undergraduate dental students and interns in Qassim province. Questionnaire consisted of nineteen questions pertaining to knowledge and awareness regarding syncope, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), intravenous drugs, measuring vital signs, and handling situation of aspiration of a foreign body, bleeding, and choking. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0.

Results

Fifty-seven percent was the response rate received from the questionnaire. Eighty-nine percent and 30% of the participants inquired about the medical history and vital signs before dental treatment, respectively. Only 37% of participants were confident to handle any medical emergency in the dental office. Seventy percent knew the correct location of chest compression and 67% were familiar about the right compression ventilation ratio showing significant difference between academic years and interns (P = 0.003). Females were significantly more aware about the management of bleeding after extraction than the males (65%, and 47%, respectively; P = 0.035). Thirty-five percent and 53% chose the correct management to relieve choking in responsive and unresponsive adult or child, respectively. A total of 28% of the participants reported syncope as the most common emergency situation.

Conclusion

Participants were lacking confidence in handling medical emergencies even though the majority of them inquired the medical history. Most of them have a good knowledge regarding CPR, but regarding airway obstruction, the knowledge was not at an acceptable level. Annual basic life support and emergency courses should be mandatory in dental teaching curriculum.

General dentists' awareness of how to cope with medical emergencies in paediatric dental patients

BACKGROUND

General dentists (GDs) should be aware of the symptoms, signs, diagnoses and treatment of medical emergencies in paediatric patients.

AIM

To evaluate the knowledge of GDs in coping with medical emergencies, and to identify whether they are confident to diagnose and treat medical emergencies in paediatric patients.

DESIGN

The questionnaire was conducted immediately before the beginning of national dental meetings and continuing education seminars in Croatia, attended by the GDs, in order to obtain a representative sample.

RESULTS

Of a total of 498 GDs who returned the questionnaire with valid data, 51.2% reported that a medical history was regularly taken. A high proportion (81.3%) of the GDs had never received any basic life support (BLS) training and education for paediatric patients during their undergraduate studies. After graduation, this value rose to 86.1% of GDs. However, more than two-thirds (68.7%) had experienced some emergency situation in their practice. The most frequent emergency was vasovagal syncope (83.6%) and the most rare was cardiac arrest (8.2%). One-fifth (20.5%) of GDs experienced some emergency but could not make a diagnosis. The more BLS training undergone by a GD, the more self-confident s/he felt in an emergency situation.

CONCLUSIONS

Most GDs have a lack of knowledge to cope with medical emergencies in paediatric patients, and do not feel confident to diagnose and treat emergency situations in children. It is suggested that adequate training and education should be provided for all GDs to address this shortcoming.

Knowledge, attitude and anxiety pertaining to basic life support and medical emergencies among dental interns in Mangalore City, India

BACKGROUND

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and anxiety pertaining to basic life support (BLS) and medical emergencies among interns in dental colleges of Mangalore city, Karnataka, India.

METHODS

The study subjects comprised of interns who volunteered from the four dental colleges. The knowledge and attitude of interns were assessed using a 30-item questionnaire prepared based on the Basic Life Support Manual from American Heart Association and the anxiety of interns pertaining to BLS and medical emergencies were assessed using a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Questionnaire. Chi-square test was performed on SPSS 21.0 (IBM Statistics, 2012) to determine statistically significant differences (P<0.05) between assessed knowledge and anxiety.

RESULTS

Out of 183 interns, 39.89% had below average knowledge. A total of 123 (67.21%) reported unavailability of professional training. The majority (180, 98.36%) felt the urgent need of training in basic life support procedures. Assessment of stress showed a total of 27.1% participants to be above high-stress level. Comparison of assessed knowledge and stress was found to be insignificant (P=0.983).

CONCLUSION

There was an evident lack of knowledge pertaining to the management of medical emergencies among the interns. As oral health care providers moving out to the society, a focus should be placed on the training of dental interns with respect to Basic Life Support procedures.

Medical emergencies encountered in dental clinics: A study from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

Objectives:

To report the prevalence of medical emergencies in dental clinics and self-perceived competence of dentists in the Eastern Province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Materials and Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, a self administered questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 198 dentists working in private and government dental clinics in the Eastern Province of KSA. The respondents were approached twice to ensure good participation in the study.

Results:

One hundred and forty-five dentists returned the questionnaires yielding a response rate of 73.2%. Half were male (50.3%) and 56% worked in private dental clinics. About 67% of the respondents reported having encountered any episodes of medical emergencies. Vasovagal syncope was the most common medical emergency experienced by 53.1% of the dentists, followed by hypoglycemia (44.8%) and only 5.5% had faced foreign body aspiration. The responding dentists had encountered 599 episodes of medical emergencies in the last 3 years. Almost 45% of the participants felt competent to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Most of the participants (74.3%) reported that they had emergency kits in their clinics; more than 70% of the dentists kept oxygen, adrenaline, and glucose. One-third of them were either not confident or did not know how to use the emergency drugs.

Conclusions:

The study findings revealed that dentists quite commonly encounter medical emergency situations during their practice in dental clinics, but a considerable proportion of dentists did not feel competent enough to handle medical emergency conditions.

[Dentists should improve the ability to deal with medical emergencies in dental clinic]

In recent years, the number of outpatients in stomatological hospital is in increasing year by year and being accompanied by the corresponding medical risks. One of the risks which may endanger the patient life is medical emergency which need emergency treatment by the dentists in dental clinical practice. The most common emergency type is syncope, followed by hyperventilation, drug overdose, adrenaline reaction and hypertension, etc. Unexpected events mainly occurred at the end of the treatment and before leaving the dental clinic, during or immediately after the local anesthesia, in the treatment process. Tooth extraction related emergency is the most frequently occurring emergency, followed by the local anesthesia related ones. It's strongly suggested that dentists should pay more attention to outpatient clinical emergency treatment, and related knowledge and skills training should be offered to improve the ability to handle medical emergencies.

Assessment of knowledge and attitude about basic life support among dental interns and postgraduate students in Bangalore city, India

BACKGROUND

Life-threatening emergencies can occur at anytime, at anywhere and in anyone. Effective management of an emergency situation in the dental office is ultimately the dentist's responsibility. The lack of training and inability to cope with medical emergencies can lead to tragic consequences and sometimes legal complications. Therefore, health professionals including dentists must be well prepared to deal with medical emergencies. This study was undertaken to assess the knowledge about and attitude towards basic life support (BLS) among dental interns and postgraduate students in Bangalore city, India.

METHODS

A cross sectional survey was conducted among dental interns and postgraduate students from May 2014 to June 2014 since few studies have been conducted in Bangalore city. A questionnaire with 17 questions regarding the knowledge about and attitude towards BLS was distributed to 202 study participants.

RESULTS

The data analyzed using the Chi-square test showed that dental interns and postgraduate students had average knowledge about BLS. In the 201 participants, 121 (59.9%) had a positive attitude and 81 (40.1%) had a negative attitude towards BLS.

CONCLUSIONS

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be considered as part of the dental curriculum. Workshops on a regular basis should be focused on skills of cardiopulmonary resuscitation for dental students.

Evaluation of preparedness for medical emergencies at dental offices: A survey

BACKGROUND

The best way to handle an emergency is to be prepared in advance. The purpose of this study was to assess the availability of medical emergency drugs at dental offices and to determine the level of knowledge and preparedness of dentists to manage medical emergencies at their dental offices.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2014 with 250 dental graduates to determine their knowledge and ability in the management of medical emergencies and assess availability of emergency drugs and equipments in dental offices in the Ahmedabad and Udaipur areas of India. The questionnaire consisted of mainly objective questions, requiring a simple yes or no reply. Mann-Whitney test was used for the analysis. A 95% confidence level was used and a P value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

The results of our study showed that almost all the surveyed dentists (98%) enquired about medical history, but only 12% obtained filled health history proforma from patients regarding the above. Only 38.4% participants recorded the vital signs of patients before commencing any treatment. Also, 7.6% reported about having attended any workshops on emergency training or management programs. Emergency kits were available with only 24% participants and the available kits were assessed for the availability of emergency drugs. Also, 34% were confident about giving intramuscular injection and only 6.6% were sure about giving intravenous injections. The P value was found to be highly statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

The results of our study reflect an alarming situation about the capability of dentists to deal with such conditions.

The ability of oral & maxillofacial surgeons to perform basic life resuscitation in chattisgarh

AIM AND OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to assess the ability of oral & maxillofacial surgeons regarding basic life resuscitation in case of medical emergencies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted among oral & maxillofacial surgeons through a mailed questionnaire. The sample size was finalized to 152 including 108 - males and 44 - females with mean age of the subjects as 30.65 y. The Statistical software namely SPSS version 16.0 was used for data analysis.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The student's t-test, ANOVA test and post-hoc test were used as tests of significance for statistical evaluation at p ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS

The study revealed that most of the participants were aware about the administration of drugs. Around half of the surgeons (52.4%) were able to understand correct reading of ECG. It has been seen that, 66.8% were properly knowing, how to maintain the airway and 77.4% were experienced in the administration of oxygen in case of emergencies. Overall the knowledge was more among experienced dental surgeons.

CONCLUSION

It was found that most of the participants were aware to handle the medical emergencies in dental practice and the awareness was higher among senior surgeons. Still the surgeon should have more knowledge for initial stabilization in a patient with risk happening at dental office.

Availability of emergency drugs and equipment in general and specialist dental settings in Babol, Iran

AIM

Medical emergencies can frequently happen in dental settings and it is critical to outfit the clinic by emergency drugs and equipment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the emergency drugs and equipment in general and specialist dental settings in Babol, Iran.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A questionnaire containing closed ended questions about the available emergency drugs and equipment was used in this descriptive-analytical study. Data were subjected to descriptive analysis using SPSS 18.0 to identify the most frequent drugs and equipment. Chi-square and t-test were used to evaluate the correlation between the variables. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

One hundred and twelve dentists answered the questionnaire. The most available drug and equipment were epinephrine (67%) and single use syringe (81.3%) respectively. Significant correlation was found between degree of education and availability of first group of emergency drugs and between sex and possession of second group of emergency equipment (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Degree of availability of emergency drugs and equipment was moderate to low and training about emergencies should be included in the didactic topics of universities and workshops.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Information about emergency drug and equipment would help to manage the unwanted emergency situations.

Assessment of a group of nigerian dental students' education on medical emergencies

BACKGROUND

The training of dental students in the management of medical emergencies is of utmost importance as they may encounter some of these emergencies at some point in their career.

AIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate the medical emergency education in a Nigerian Dental School.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 124 final year dental students of the University of Benin, Benin City. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire elicited information on demography, knowledge of inclusion of a medical emergency in the dental curriculum, knowledge of guidelines on medical emergency formulated by any dental authority, opinion on the comprehensiveness of the present training on medical emergency, type of medical emergency training received, previous encounter with a medical emergency, previous participation in emergency drills and knowledge of the content of an emergency kit. Descriptive statistics was carried out on the collected data.

RESULTS

Only 58.1% (72/124) respondents were aware of the inclusion of a medical emergency in the dental curriculum and fewer, 17.7% (22/124), were aware of guidelines on medical emergency formulated by any dental authority. Fifty-two out of all the respondents (41.9%) claimed not to have received any form of training on medical emergency. Only 22.6% (28/123) had previously participated in an emergency drills and just 34.7% (43/124) had ever seen an emergency kit.

CONCLUSIONS

It can be concluded from this study that the level of training and level of knowledge on medical emergencies of the studied dental students is below desirable standard. It is therefore necessary to put proper strategies in place to strengthen their identified areas of weakness.