. Ravi Chandra Ravi; . Charishma Chowdary Ponugubati; . Sunil Kumar Bonu; . Srividya Athkuri; . Lakshman Varma Uppalapati; . Chandrakanth Majeti
Volume 10, Issue 12 , December 2020, , Pages 1-8
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The pandemic caused by novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus 2) in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 is a highly contagious disease. The World HealthOrganization ...
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INTRODUCTION: The pandemic caused by novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus 2) in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 is a highly contagious disease. The World HealthOrganization has declared the outbreak of coronavirus diseases (COVID‑19) as a global public healthemergency. Currently, the research on novel coronavirus is still in the primary stage. The aim of thisstudy is to assess the knowledge and awareness on COVID‑19 disease and related infection controlmeasures among the dental fraternity in Visakhapatnam – the smart city.METHODS: A total of 808 dentists from the Visakhapatnam region completed a questionnaire‑basedsurvey 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 issuedby the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suitable sampling method was used for thecollection of data and the distribution of responses was presented as percentages. Explanatorystatistics 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 correctresponses.RESULTS: A total of 825 participated in the survey, of which 808 dentists completely answered thesurvey, 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 (P = 0.001, 0.001) and occupation (P = 0.001, 0.001, 0.004). Private practitionersseem to more awareness compared to teaching faculty, undergraduates, and postgraduates, as theyhave answered correctly (>70%) for almost all the questions.CONCLUSION: 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 oninfection control practices for COVID‑19 among dentists in particular. The information from this surveyhelps us to make necessary changes in implementing periodic educational webinars and stress onareas where necessary, which is important for the dental fraternity for protecting themselves andshielding our society from COVID‑19.
