Issue |
J Oral Med Oral Surg
Volume 27, Number 1, 2021
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 17 | |
Number of page(s) | 7 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/mbcb/2020056 | |
Published online | 18 December 2020 |
Original Article
Knowledge and attitudes among dental students about COVID-19 and its precautionary measures: a cross-sectional study
1
Oral Health Research and Promotion Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, Al-Quds University, 51000 Jerusalem, Palestine
2
Czech National Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare and Knowledge Translation, Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
* Correspondence: ekateeb@staff.alquds.edu
Received:
15
September
2020
Accepted:
11
November
2020
Objective: This study aims to evaluate students' knowledge and attitudes about COVID-19 and its precautionary measures. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among dental students in their clinical practice years in two Palestinian universities. An online questionnaire was sent out using students' in mid-May, 2020. The questionnaire assessed students self-reported knowledge about the COVID-19, and students' attitudes towards providing clinical care during the pandemic. Results: A total of 305 dental students completed the questionnaire. Fifty-nine percent (n = 180) reported having updated training on infection control measures in dental settings and 29% (n = 89) reported having attended a training course regarding COVID-19. Eighty-two percent of students (n = 250) preferred to avoid working with suspected COVID-19 patients. Almost 89% (n = 269) admitted fear of transmitting the virus to their families. This fear was related to their perception that using regular standard precautions is unsafe in dealing with COVID-19 patients and their perception of their schools' preparedness to update infection prevention measures (χ2 = 50.45, p < 0.001) (χ2 = 9.77, p = 0.021). Conclusion: Students in this sample are aware of COVID-19 and its precautionary measures. Adherence to new, stricter infection control protocols and periodic orientation of students to these protocols are ways to guarantee a safer environment for both patients and students.
Key words: COVID-19 / students / dental risk / perception
© The authors, 2020
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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