Assessment of Babol′s dentist knowledge regarding medical emergencies in dental office in 2010

Occurrence of medical emergencies in dental offices is not uncommon. The most important and the first step in controlling the medical emergencies is the ability to provide basic life support which needs knowledge، experience and equipments. The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge of dentists relating to the management of medical emergencies in dental office and their willingness towards holding related educational workshops.

This analytic cross-sectional research was accomplished in Babol among 132 general and specialist dentists in 2010. A validated questionnaire (Knowledge and attitudes of reliability: Cronbach''s α value 79% and 84% respectively) consisting of 17 questions about knowledge (score of 14-17: excellent، 11-14: good، 8-11 moderate and less than 8: poor)، three questions about attitude and demographic characteristics was distributed. Data were analyzed using t-test، X2 and Pearson correlation statistics using SPSS.

119 dentists (91. 9%) filled out the questionnaire. The average age was 38. 6 (± 7. 5) years with 84 (70. 6%) male and 35 (29. 4%) female individuals. The average score of knowledge was 9. 31 (± 2. 31) out of 17 points which was negatively correlated to the graduation year (r=-0. 43) and age of dentists (r=-0. 3). 94% were agreed with workshops and 75% were agreed with equipment of office and emergency kit and 84. 9% were not satisfied with the academic education in that field.

Knowledge of dentists in Babol was not sufficient in the field of medical emergencies which needs intervention for improving and updating by means of holding workshops and continuing education program.