Awareness and knowledge of medical emergency in dental clinic in Saudi Arabia: a cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: In dentistry most of the medical emergency considered to be mild, and in some situation it can be very serious. The objective of our study is to assess knowledge and awareness of dental general practitioner, preparedness of dental clinic/team and the prevalence of most common medical emergencies encountered in dental clinics.Methods: This is a cross sectional study using self-administrated electronic questionnaire conducted on dental general practitioners (GPs) working in kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the months of January and February 2018 were recruited.Results: Less than half of the participants (47.3%) usually check vital signs before surgical extraction only and 42% before simple and surgical extraction and 8% before simple extraction only. Only 46.4% of the participants have experienced at least one medical emergency throughout their career. The most common medical emergency encountered is vasovagal syncope followed by hypoglycaemia and seizures, respectively. Majority of GPs have valid BLS and no one answered all question correctly.Conclusions: There are serious problems regarding the knowledge among dental GPs. Further studies needed to assess the education of medical emergency in schools of dentistry.

A Survey on Knowledge of Medical Emergencies and Its Management among the Under-Graduate (UG) Clinical Students of a Dental College in Pondicherry, India

“…2 Rafee LA et al concluded similarly when they evaluated the dental UG final year students and strongly emphasized incorporating practical training in the teaching curriculum. 3 In the study conducted by Ahamed A et al among the undergraduate students found that they had a good knowledge about the various medical emergencies and their management but they lacked confidence in the practical aspect of the same concluding that it is essential to incorporate hands-on courses to improve the confidence of the UG students which was similar to the results observed by Albelaihi HF et al 2 , Akbari N et al 4 Similar conclusions were given by Azad A et al 5 and Sheikho MA et al 6 among general dental practitioner's knowledge regarding medical emergency situations was average as compared to those who had attended emergency workshops and it is essential to conduct training courses and workshops more often for graduated dental practitioners. 5,7 An analytical survey study conducted among dental interns provided various observations including a lack of knowledge on medical emergencies in southern India dental schools.…”

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Cardiovascular Medical Emergencies Among Dental Students: An Institutional-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…This could be due to higher academic degrees & prior training in cardiac patient treatment were all connected to better knowledge scores [ 10 ]. While low to moderate knowledge scores among D1,D2,D3 students could be due to lower academic levels, minimal clinical exposures to the management of cardiovascular patients, less training & not attending regular updated workshops [ 1 , 23 ].…”

“…Saudi Arabia has made it mandatory in the curriculum for all health university programs to complete the BLS course before entering the clinics [ 21 ]. One of the studies revealed that very few dental practitioners have a comprehensive understanding of BLS [ 1 ]. Evidence, however, shows that dentists' BLS abilities degrade quickly.…”

“…A medical emergency (ME) is an illness or acute injury that could put an immediate risk to patient's life [ 1 ]. It is usually triggered by longstanding dental procedures or by administration of local anesthesia [ 2 , 3 ].…”

“…Current literature evidence indicates that cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes mellitus have a high incidence rate among the population in Saudi Arabia and are leading factors for MEs [ 1 ]. The European-based study reveals that “sudden cardiac arrest” affects around 3,50,000 to 700000 individuals annually [ 4 , 5 ].…”