Department of Endodontic, Minia University Faculty of Dentistry, Minia, Egypt; Department of Endodontic, The Egyptian Russian University Faculty of Dentistry, Badr City, Egypt.
Department of Endodontic, The British University in Egypt Faculty of Dentistry, Cairo, Egypt; Department of Endodontic, Ain Shams University Faculty of Dentistry, Cairo, Egypt; Center of Innovative Dental Sciences, The British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt.
Eur Endod J. 2022 Jun;7(2):135-142. doi: 10.14744/eej.2022.15238.
To evaluate the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on endodontic clinics in Egypt.
Two hundred Egyptian endodontists holding a minimum of a master's degree were invited to participate in an online survey in March 2021. Participants accessed the survey link shared on the social media group of the Egyptian Society of Endodontology. Participants read and signed an electronic informed consent before participating in this study. The questionnaire was designed exclusively by the authors. A draft was pilot tested on a sample of 15 endodontic masters' students at The British University in Egypt. Suggestions and comments to improve clarity, content, and validity were incorporated into the revised survey. The questionnaire was divided into five sections; the first section comprised of questions about the participants' demographic details. The second section targeted the current and future financial impact of COVID-19 on practices. The third section included information about the average patient flow and the introduction of teledentistry in clinical practice. The fourth section assessed the effect of COVID-19 on the staff in the dental clinics and the changes made in response to COVID-19. The last section estimated COVID-19 prevalence among endodontists and staff. Categorical data were presented as frequencies (n) and percentages (%) and were analysed using Fisher's exact test. Quantitative data were presented as mean and standard deviation values. P-values were adjusted for multiple comparisons utilising Bonferroni correction.
A total of 141 endodontists participated in the survey. The negative financial impact of COVID-19 was reported by 84.39% of the participants. Seventy-eight endodontists (55.3%) suffered from the increased cost of endodontic materials. Of the endodontist respondents, 90.8% suffered from the increased cost of PPE, 82.3% did not charge their patients more, and only 14.4% planned to charge more. A decrease in the number of referred cases for endodontic treatment has been noticed by 58.9%. About 47.5% noticed increased patient phone calls replacing patient visits. Only 12.8% have dismissed staff because of financial problems.
COVID-19 has negatively affected most endodontists financially and significantly affected their practices' strategies.
评估 COVID-19 大流行对埃及牙髓诊所的财务影响。
2021 年 3 月，邀请 200 名持有硕士学位及以上学历的埃及牙髓科医生参加在线调查。参与者通过埃及牙髓学会的社交媒体群组访问调查链接。参与者在参与本研究之前阅读并签署了电子知情同意书。问卷由作者专门设计。一份草案在埃及英国大学的 15 名牙髓学硕士研究生样本中进行了试点测试。为了提高清晰度、内容和有效性，对建议和意见进行了修改并纳入修订后的调查。问卷分为五个部分；第一部分包括参与者的人口统计学细节问题。第二部分针对 COVID-19 对实践的当前和未来财务影响。第三部分包括有关平均患者流量和远程牙科在临床实践中的引入的信息。第四部分评估了 COVID-19 对牙科诊所工作人员的影响以及针对 COVID-19 做出的改变。最后一部分估计了牙髓科医生和工作人员中的 COVID-19 患病率。分类数据以频率（n）和百分比（%）表示，并使用 Fisher 精确检验进行分析。定量数据以平均值和标准差值表示。使用 Bonferroni 校正对多重比较进行调整后，报告 P 值。
共有 141 名牙髓科医生参与了调查。84.39%的参与者报告 COVID-19 带来了负面的财务影响。78 名牙髓科医生（55.3%）遭受了牙髓材料成本增加的困扰。在接受调查的牙髓科医生中，90.8%的人遭受了个人防护设备成本增加的困扰，82.3%的人没有向患者收取更多费用，只有 14.4%的人计划收取更多费用。58.9%的人注意到转介牙髓治疗的病例减少。大约 47.5%的人注意到患者来电代替患者就诊的情况有所增加。只有 12.8%的人因财务问题解雇了员工。
COVID-19 对大多数牙髓科医生的财务状况产生了负面影响，并对他们的实践策略产生了重大影响。
