Effect of self‐efficacy and empathy characteristics of post‐graduate residents on local anesthesia administration performances: Pilot study

Abstract

The "Profile and Competences for the European Dentist" document addresses some competencies as a must for graduating dentists, some of which are stated as providing humane and compassionate care to all patients and administering local anesthesia for pain management. Within this perspective, this study aims to investigate the effect of self-efficacy and empathy characteristics of post-graduate residents (post-grads) on the perceived pain and anxiety scores of children during local anesthesia administrations. Materials and methods: Ten pediatric dentistry post-grads and 91 children aged between 5 and13 years participated in the study. Post-grads performed 120 injections as part of their routine dental treatment in children. Demographic data, self-efficacy, and empathy scale scores of post-grads, anxiety, and pain scores of children were recorded during injections. Results: Self-efficacy scale scores of residents ranged between 66 and 74 with a mean score of 69.80 ± 2.69. Empathy scale scores were between 77 and 97 and the mean was 89.20 ± 6.24. Significant and negative correlations were observed between self-efficacy scores of post-grads and pain scores of children (r = -0.205 and p = 0.025). Empathy scores of post-grads established a significant and positive correlation with children's anxiety scores (r = 0.244 and p < 0.007). Conclusions:Self-efficacy and empathy characteristics of post-grads were found to have an impact on the perceived pain and anxiety scores of children during local anesthesia administrations. Empathetic post-grads with higher self-efficacy provided an enhanced local anesthesia experience for child patients. Therefore, educational programs should also be organized aiming to develop self-efficacy and empathy characteristics of post-grads for a more humane and compassionate dental experience in child patients.

Is there an association between clinician behavioural factors, and the experience of pain in a dental setting? A Scoping Review

“…Current literature discusses various dentist behaviours that can minimise patients' dental pain, including friendliness and warmth, (32,26) displaying empathy, (36) and having a calm and non-judgemental demeanour, (25) in order to help develop rapport and foster a positive dentist-patient relationship. (29) Use of distraction techniques was also found to be effective in minimising dental pain.…”

Effectiveness of the “pain‐free dental injection” (PaFein) teaching model in reducing children's pain: A randomized, controlled study

“…For this purpose, numerous scientific studies have been conducted to determine and overcome several dependent factors (e.g., related to equipments, techniques and practitioners) that may cause pain perception during dental injections. 2 In the service of pain free dentistry, a recent review by Monteiro et al 3 evaluated the interventions for increasing acceptance of local anesthetic injections in children and adolescents. They reported inconclusive evidence when (i) audiovisual distraction, (ii) the Wand (iii) counterstimulation/distraction and (iv) hypnosis were compared to conventional management techniques.…”

“…Today it is believed that delivering painless LA to children is the key to developing a long term/nurturing relationship and potential cooperative child patients. For this purpose, numerous scientific studies have been conducted to determine and overcome several dependent factors (e.g., related to equipments, techniques and practitioners) that may cause pain perception during dental injections 2 …”

“…To our knowledge, the present study is the first trial to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention for preparing caregivers to reduce dental injection pain. For pain free injections, previous studies 2,3 evaluated a variety of interventions and equipment, especially local anesthetic syringes. In this study only the conventional syringe was used in all cases.…”