Uncertainties around COVID-19 from the perspectives of oral health care workers during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Background The first wave of COVID-19 infections caused disturbances in all aspects of personal and professional lives. The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which that first wave of novel coronavirus infections resulted in uncertainties, as experienced by members of the oral health care workforce in British Columbia, Canada. Methods This qualitative inquiry purposefully recruited frontline oral health care workers, including dentists, dental hygienists, certified dental assistants, and administrative staff, via remote semi-structured interviews between April 20 and May 4, 2020. Coding, categories, and themes were inductively assigned. Results A total of 45 interviews, lasting between 39 and 74 minutes each, were conducted involving 18 dentists (6 females), 12 dental hygienists (11 females), 6 certified dental assistants (all females), and 9 administrators/front-desk staff (7 females). Fifty-one hours of audio recordings and more than 650 single-spaced pages of transcripts were produced. Five main themes emerged pertaining to uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, patient care, personal lives and infectiousness, concern for the future, and variations among different pandemics. Certitudes were less evident, but surfaced mostly when considering a potential new normal resulting from the pandemic. Conclusion Participants indicated that the uncertainties they felt were dependent upon what is known, and unknown, about the pandemic and the provision of oral health care during the first wave of infections. Future studies are needed to include the viewpoints of oral health care workers from other provinces, as well the perceptions of patients who received oral health care during the height of the first wave of the pandemic.

Developing an integrated multilevel model of uncertainty in health care: a qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis

“…The 33 included articles were published from 1957 to 2021. The majority of the included articles were reported from North America, 18 from the USA,2 5 8–10 20–32 3 from Canada11 33 34 and 2 from Mexico 35 36. Of the remaining, six studies were reported from Europe,37–42 two from Asia,13 43 one from Australia6 and one from New Zealand 12…”

“…Fifteen studies used empirical research to develop classifications, of which 12 used a qualitative methodology,5 11 25 27 29 30 33 34 37 39 42 43 2 used quantitative methodology10 22 and 1 used a mixed-methods approach 36. From the mixed-method study, only the qualitative component which pertained to classification development was considered.…”

“…Interviews were the predominantly used method of data collection in the qualitative studies5 11 25 27 33 34 42 43 and the mixed-method study 36. Focus group discussions were used in one study30; secondary data from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) documents37 in another and another29 used open-ended questionnaires to collect data.…”

The impact of COVID-19 on the dental hygienists: A cross-sectional study in the Lombardy first-wave outbreak

“…A recent survey highlighted that the pandemic produced an 8% reduction in DH employment, in most of cases voluntary, due to concerns on COVID-19 and family issues [ 31 ]. Literature supports high psychological distress, anxiety and depression among dental staff, including DHs, especially during the time of the outbreak [ 6 , 18 , 32 ] and particularly related to the increased level of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and oral health care of the patient, and towards personal life and infectivity [ 33 ].…”

Dental safety net providers’ experiences with service delivery during the first year of COVID-19 should inform dental pandemic preparedness

“…Participants' concerns about infection control among patients, staff members, and personal contacts were unsurprising, given the characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen, the centrality of infection control in dentistry, and emerging dental PHEPR. 12,25,26,41,42 Although participants felt confident about controlling blood-borne pathogens, their excess stress related to the novel risks of a highly infectious air-and droplet-borne pathogen in the dental space was exacerbated by 2 systemslevel and 1 patient-level concerns; that is, differences in guidance from governmental and professional bodies, the unpredictability of material resource pipelines (in particular PPE), and the urgency participants felt to return patients to in-person care to manage, halt, or prevent disease.…”