Knowledge and awareness about personal protective equipment among first year dental students.

SHANKAR, PREETHI; DURAISAMY, REVATHI; S., PREETHA

Background: Dentistry is a discipline of health care which involves dealing with blood and saliva on a daily basis. PPE prevents transmission of infectious disease and promotes good hygiene. PPE includes protective clothing, surgical mask, a proper quality of gloves and protective eyewear. PPE keeps the barrier between the user and environment and reduces the spread of infection. Aim: The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge and awareness about personal protective equipment among first year dental students of SDC. Materials And Methods: A survey based questionnaire was conducted among first year dental students of Saveetha dental College, in the year of March 2020 to assess the knowledge and awareness about personal protective equipment (PPE) used during clinical practice. The questionnaire of 12 questions were prepared and the responses analysed by Spss statistical analysis. Chi- square analysis was done to associate between gender and responses obtained from the questionnaire survey. The method of representation of data was using bar graphs. Results were made in the form of a bar graph which indicates knowledge and awareness of personal protective equipment among first year dental students of SDC. Results: From the survey,72.4% of the students believe that dentists deal with body fluids while 27.6% of them oppose it . Similarly,59.8% of the students believe dental students are given proper training in the use of PPE while 40.2% oppose it . 64.3% believe that PPE protects the mucous membranes from the exposure of infectious material in spray or spatter while 35.7% opposes. Association between gender and various responses were found to be statistically not significant (Chi square analysis (p value > 0.05)). Conclusion: In this study, it was found that first year dental students only had a very little knowledge on PPE there is a need for regular training and education programmes on PPE to understand its importance and prevent the spread of infection.

PERSONAL protective equipment; DENTAL students; MEDICAL masks; CHI-squared test; PRACTICE of dentistry

International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research (09752366), 2020, p3385

0975-2366

Academic Journal

10.31838/ijpr/2020.SP2.403