Ravi Ravi Chandra, Ponugubati Charishma Chowdary, Bonu Sunil Kumar, Athkuri Srividya, Uppalapati Lakshman Varma, Majeti Chandrakanth
Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, GITAM Dental College and Hospital, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Department of Periodontics and Oral Implantology, GITAM Dental College and Hospital, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
J Educ Health Promot. 2020 Dec 29;9:353. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_458_20. eCollection 2020.
The pandemic caused by novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 is a highly contagious disease. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) as a global public health emergency. Currently, the research on novel coronavirus is still in the primary stage. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and awareness on COVID-19 disease and related infection control measures among the dental fraternity in Visakhapatnam - the smart city.
A total of 808 dentists from the Visakhapatnam region completed a questionnaire-based survey on the knowledge, awareness, and infection control measures related to COVID-19 infection. The questionnaire was tailored from the guidance and information for health-care workers issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suitable sampling method was used for the collection of data and the distribution of responses was presented as percentages. Explanatory statistics were performed for all groups and subgroups based on the percentage of correct responses. Individual pair-wise comparisons were done using the Chi-square test for the percentage of correct responses.
A total of 825 participated in the survey, of which 808 dentists completely answered the survey, and the response rate was 98%. Among the respondents, males and females are 46.8% and 53.2%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference for all the questions solicited, among age groups ( = 0.001, 0.001) and occupation ( = 0.001, 0.001, 0.004). Private practitioners seem to more awareness compared to teaching faculty, undergraduates, and postgraduates, as they have answered correctly (>70%) for almost all the questions.
The inputs from the survey help us throw some light and fill up lacunae where required. There is a strong need to implement periodic educational interventions and training programs on infection control practices for COVID-19 among dentists in particular. The information from this survey helps us to make necessary changes in implementing periodic educational webinars and stress on areas where necessary, which is important for the dental fraternity for protecting themselves and shielding our society from COVID-19.
2019年12月在中国武汉由新型冠状病毒（严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2）引起的大流行是一种高度传染性疾病。世界卫生组织已宣布冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情为全球突发公共卫生事件。目前，对新型冠状病毒的研究仍处于初级阶段。本研究的目的是评估维沙卡帕特南（智慧城市）牙科界对COVID-19疾病及相关感染控制措施的知识和认识。
来自维沙卡帕特南地区的808名牙医完成了一项基于问卷的关于COVID-19感染的知识、认识和感染控制措施的调查。该问卷是根据美国疾病控制与预防中心发布的医护人员指南和信息量身定制的。采用合适的抽样方法收集数据，并以百分比形式呈现回答分布情况。基于正确回答的百分比对所有组和子组进行解释性统计。使用卡方检验对正确回答的百分比进行个体两两比较。
共有825人参与调查，其中808名牙医完整回答了调查，回复率为98%。在受访者中，男性和女性分别占46.8%和53.2%。在所有询问的问题上，年龄组（P = 0.001，0.001）和职业（P = 0.001，0.001，0.004）之间存在统计学上的显著差异。与教师、本科生和研究生相比，私人执业者似乎更有认识，因为他们几乎对所有问题都回答正确（>70%）。
调查所得信息有助于我们阐明情况并在需要的地方填补空白。尤其迫切需要对牙医实施关于COVID-19感染控制实践的定期教育干预和培训计划。本次调查的信息有助于我们在实施定期教育网络研讨会时做出必要改变，并在必要领域加以强调，这对牙科界保护自己以及使我们的社会免受COVID-19影响非常重要。
