Knowledge, attitude, and practices among dental practitioners and postgraduate students on the preparedness of medical emergencies in Mathura City

Abstract

Introduction: Medical emergencies can frequently happen in dental settings and the inability to cope with them can lead to tragic outcomes. Some factors can increase the risk of medical emergencies in dental settings. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices among dental practitioners and postgraduate students on the preparedness of medical emergencies. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based study was conducted on 86 postgraduates students and 56 dental practitioners in Mathura city to evaluate their knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding the preparedness of medical emergencies. A self-administered, multiple-choice type of questionnaire was administered to each participant in person, who took approximately 12 min to complete the questionnaire. SPSS Version 22.0 (IBM Corp) was used for statistical analysis. Fisher's exact test was used and the value of P < 0.001 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 83 (96.5%) postgraduate students and 51 (94.4%) dental practitioners had knowledge regarding how to perform basic life support and first-aid, and only 28 (51.9%) dental practitioners could handle any emergency condition at their dental office. Furthermore, 45 (52.3%) postgraduate students and 49 (90.7%) dental practitioners attended workshops on emergency training (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Basic knowledge regarding diagnosis of medical emergencies and dealing with the same was better among the postgraduate students. They also had a better attitude toward handling of medical emergencies compared to dental practitioners. The dental practitioners ranked higher in majority of the aspects in handling medical emergencies.

Keywords

• Attitude
• knowledge
• medical emergencies
• postgraduate students
• practitioners