| Literature DB >> 32821538 |
Osman Ataş1, Tuba Talo Yildirim2.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a new viral respiratory illness, first identified in Wuhan province, China. Dental professionals and dental students are at an increased risk for these viruses from dental patients, as dental practice involves face-to-face communication with the patients and frequent exposure to saliva, blood, and other body fluids. Dental education can play an important role in the training of dental students, adequate knowledge and adopting attitudes regarding infection control measures. The aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and clinical education of dental students about COVID-19 pandemic.Entities:
Keywords: Attitudes; COVID-19; Dental education; Dental student
Year: 2020 PMID: 32821538 PMCID: PMC7395615 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9575
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PeerJ ISSN: 2167-8359 Impact factor: 2.984
Distribution of the students according to gender and course period.
| Gender | Male | 165 | (46.4%) | 355 (100%) |
| Female | 190 | (53.6%) | ||
| Course period | Clinical | 113 | (31.9%) | 355 (100%) |
| Preclinical | 242 | (68.1%) |
Knowledge and attitudes of students about COVID-19.
| Questions | Male ( | Female ( | Preclinical ( | Clinical ( | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Have you been informed about COVID-19 in your faculty like lectures or seminars? | Yes | 25.5 | 24.7% | .486 | 19.8% | 36.3% | .001* |
| No | 74.5% | 75.3% | 80.2% | 63.7% | |||
| Have you asked questions such as high fever, dry cough or travel abroad while taking an anamnesis from your patients in the last 3 months? | Yes | 13.9% | 16.8% | .273 | 17.4% | 11.5% | .102 |
| No | 86.1% | 83.2% | 82.6% | 88.5% | |||
| Did COVID-19 negatively affect your psychology? | Yes | 68.5% | 80.5% | .002 | 70.2% | 85% | .001 |
| No | 19.4% | 6.8% | 13.2% | 11.5% | |||
| Undecided | 12.1% | 12.6% | 16.6% | 3.5% | |||
| Are you afraid of becoming infected with COVID-19 as a healthcare professional working at close range with the patient? | Yes | 74.5% | 88.9% | .001 | 77.6% | 92% | .002 |
| No | 15.2% | 5.3% | 12% | 5.3% | |||
| Undecided | 10.3% | 5.8% | 10.4% | 2.7% | |||
| Are you afraid to infect any relatives or people around you in terms of COVID-19 because you are a healthcare worker working very close to the patient? | Yes | 91.6% | 94.2% | .485 | 90.5% | 98.2% | .012 |
| No | 4.2% | 3.7% | 5.4% | 0.9% | |||
| Undecided | 4.2% | 2.1% | 4.1% | 0.9% | |||
| Would you hesitate to treat a patient who came to dental treatment after getting over and recovering from COVID-19 infection? | Yes | 37.6% | 50% | .001 | 40% | 53% | .066 |
| No | 47.2% | 27.4% | 38.9% | 31.9% | |||
| Undecided | 15.2% | 22.6% | 21.1% | 15.1% | |||
| Do you think that after your COVID-19 pandemic, you will be more careful in your standard measures regarding contamination in your patients? | Yes | 77.6% | 88.9% | .012 | 80.2% | 91.2% | .033 |
| No | 4.8% | 1.6% | 3.7% | 1.7% | |||
| Undecided | 17.6% | 9.5% | 16.1% | 7.1% | |||
| With the COVID-19 outbreak, did you regret that you chose the dentistry profession? | Yes | 9.7% | 8.9% | .426 | 7.9% | 12.4% | .382 |
| No | 78.8% | 74.7% | 78.1% | 73.5% | |||
| Undecided | 11.5% | 16.4% | 14% | 14.2% | |||
| Do antibiotics benefit in the treatment of COVID- 19? | Yes | 3.6% | 3.7% | .357 | 2.2% | 5.1% | .133 |
| No | 83% | 77.4% | 76.4% | 83.5% | |||
| I don’t know | 13.4% | 18.9% | 21.4% | 11.4% | |||
| Can a mother diagnosed with COVID-19 breastfeed her child? | Yes | 15.2% | 12.1% | .559 | 11.6% | 14.7% | .285 |
| No | 49.0% | 54.2% | 53.3% | 49.% | |||
| I don’t know | 35.8% | 33.7% | 35.1% | 35.6% |
Notes.
Chi-square test p < 0.05.
Figure 1Sources about information about COVID-19.
Demonstrates in which clinical rotation students are more concerned about COVID-19.
| Clinical rotation | Preclinical ( | Clinical ( | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | 35.1% | 4.5% | .001 |
| Endodontics | 24.8% | 40.7% | |
| Periodontology | 14.5% | 16.8% | |
| Prosthodontic | 13.2% | 23% | |
| Oral Diagnosis and Radiology | 2.1% | 7.9% | |
| Restorative dentistry | 6.6% | 7.1% | |
| Pediatric Dentistry | 2.1% | 0.8% | |
| Orthodontics | 1.7% | 0% |
Notes.
Chi-square test p < 0.05.
Figure 2Individual measures taken by dental students against COVID-19 in their daily lives.
Figure 3Precautions taken by clinical students for themselves in clinical rotation related to COVID-19.
Figure 4Precautions taken with the patient regarding COVID-19 while dental procedures.