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

Abstract

Introduction: Medical emergencies can occur frequently in dental setting. 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 action. For this reason, all health professionals including dentists must be well prepared to attend to medical emergencies. Providing basic life support [BLS] is dentist’s most important contribution until definitive treatment for a medical emergency can be given. Hence the study is aimed to assess the dental graduates (Interns) knowledge, skills and competency regarding dentistry-medical emergency interface. Method: Data were collected from 105 Interns of two dental colleges of Belgaum City using a structured questionnaire consisting of 7 item questionnaire (6 closed and 1 open ended). Results: Overall in all the years, syncope / faint was seen by 40.9% of the respondents, 37.1% with hypoglycemic attacks, allergic reactions by 17.1%, epileptic attacks by 7.6%, asthmatic attacks by 4.5% and angina 0.9%. The frequencies of the emergencies encountered were once or even more. Knowledge of the presence of drugs and equipments in the emergency drug kit and the confidence in regard to use them was low. Medical emergencies training were undertaken by 42% respondents, but in varying degrees. There was a desire for further medical emergencies training by majority of respondents. Conclusion: The study showed that syncope is the commonest medical emergency event. Dental graduates had a superficial knowledge of medical emergencies, drugs and equipments. Emphasis is placed on the need for more medical emergencies training to be offered, to increase knowledge and confidence of dental graduates (Interns) in the management of medical emergencies. Key words:Medical emergencies, dental graduates, basic life support, emergency drugs.

A Pilot Study of Preparedness for Medical Emergencies in Urban Private Dental Practices in Malaysia

“…Among the respondents who had received training for medical emergencies after they graduated, 51.1% claimed to be fairly well in competency or preparedness and 48.9% felt to be moderately competent in medical emergencies management. In the present study, syncope was the commonest emergency event which was favourable with results of other studies done in Great Britain (Atherton et al, 1999a;Girdler and Smith, 1999), Fiji (Morse and Murthi, 2004), India (Jodalli and Ankola, 2012), France (Laurent et al, 2014), South Africa (Qwen and Mizra, 2015), Nepal (Joshi and Acharya, 2015) and Saudi Arabia (Al-Turki et al, 2017). Although syncope was not considered strictly as an 'emergency', it still requires prompt and correct treatment, or otherwise it can lead to a more adverse sequelae such as cerebral ischaemia (Girdler and Smith, 1999).…”

“…The knowledge of basic life support among dentists will help them provide immediate emergency care whilst waiting for the definitive medical assistance (Carvalho et al, 2008). A previous study had revealed that majority of dental graduates has lack of knowledge in managing medical emergencies even with the training received during undergraduate study and expressed the need for further training (Jodalli and Ankola, 2012). The competency in the management of basic life support will deteriorate after 18 months of training (Chate, 1996).…”

Assessment of Dental Students’ Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Knowledge and Experience in Turkey

“…There was no significant difference in various factors (e.g., previously receiving CPR training, practicing orotracheal intubation, and using a defibrillator) that could have affected the level of correct answers of the dentists who participated in the survey. The results of this study demonstrate that dentistry students in Turkey have insufficient knowledge and experience of CPR, in common with findings in many other countries [8][9][10][11].…”

Medical Emergencies Occurrence in Dental Settings and Dentists’ Self-Perceived Need for Practical Training

“…Medical emergencies can frequently happen in dental settings and inability to cope with them can lead to tragic outcomes. (1) There are some factors that can increase the risk of medical emergencies in dental settings. One is the increased longevity of population leading to medical conditions which predispose them to medical emergencies.…”