Risk perception and readiness of dental students to treat patients amid COVID-19: Implication for dental education
Date
2020-07-28
Authors
Alawia, Ruwaa
Riad, Abanoub
Kateeb, Elham
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Abstract
Dental settings have one of the highest risks of infection transmission
(Jamal et al., 2020; Mohebati, Davis, & Fry, 2010). Therefore,
the COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenge for dental
students and infection control measures. Data presented here
were extracted from a survey conducted among Palestinian dental
students in their clinical study years to evaluate their readiness to
return to dental care provision during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 305 dental students from Al-Quds University (AQU)
and Arab American University (AAU) completed the questionnaire in
mid-May 2020. Thirty-four percent of the current sample (n = 103)
perceived COVID-19 as very dangerous, and 84.3% (n = 257)
believed that COVID-19 is a serious public health issue. Fifty-five
percent (n = 168) did not consider themselves prepared for this
outbreak, and 66.2% (n = 202) did not think that their outpatient
clinics' infection control measures prior to COVID-19 are adequate
to receive patients during this pandemic. Eighty-eight percent of
the students (n = 269) admitted to fear of transmitting the virus to
family and friends. This fear was mainly related to their perception
that standard precautions used in dental settings are inadequate and
make it unsafe to deal with patients during the current pandemic
(χ2 = 50.45, p < .001). Thus, 82% of students (n = 250) preferred to
avoid working with COVID-19 suspected patients. This perception
Description
Keywords
COVID-19 , dental , perception of risk , students