Awareness of emergency drugs uses among students and teaching faculty in a dental college in Coorg, Karnataka

Abstract

Introduction: 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. It is logical to provide training on emergency care during undergraduate years ensuring basic competence in all graduating healthcare students. Previous surveys of medical and dental schools have highlighted deficiencies in such training. This survey sought to assess awareness of emergency drug use among students and teaching faculty in a dental college in Coorg, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out among a convenience sample of 250 dental students (III rd BDS, IV th BDS, Interns, and post graduates) and teaching faculty at the Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Coorg, Karnataka. The Closed - ended questionnaire containing selected basic multiple choice questions was used to assess the awareness. Results: About 60% of the responders scored < 50% marks, 15.6% of the responders scored between 50% and 59% marks, 14% of the responders scored 60-69% marks, 4.8% scored marks between 70% and 79% marks, only 5.6% of the responders scored between 80% and 89% marks. Conclusion: Awareness of emergency drug use among dental students and teaching faculty needs to be improved and updated.

Keywords

• Awareness
• basic life support
• dental students
• emergencies
• emergency drugs
• questionnaire