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CC BY 4.0 · European Journal of General Dentistry 2022; 11(02): 102-107
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1742644
Original Article

Experience and Preparedness of Medical Emergency among Dentists of Private Dental Teaching Hospitals of Lahore

Authors

  • Khaloud Tariq

    1   Department of Preventive and Dental Public Health, University College of Dentistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

  • Mehrin Wajahat

    2   Department of Dental Materials, Avicenna Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan

  • Muhammad Hassan

    3   Department of Dental Materials, University College of Dentistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

  • Aqsa Arif

    3   Department of Dental Materials, University College of Dentistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

Funding The authors did not receive any grant for this study.
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Abstract

Objective Handling medical emergency in a dental clinic requires skill and specialized equipment, without which a patient's life can be in jeopardy. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of medical emergencies in dental teaching hospitals and assess the preparedness of dental professionals with regard to the handling of emergency and the equipment available for that.

Materials and Methods This is a cross-sectional study employing nonprobability sampling. Data were collected from dental surgeons working in clinical specialties of five dental teaching hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. A validated questionnaire was adopted from another study evaluating emergency prevalence and preparedness. Chi square test was used to assess significant associations among categorical variables while independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare mean values among different groups.

Results Prevalence of medical emergencies encountered was 7.9%. About 45% of emergency events occurred during treatment. Hypoglycemia was reported to be the most encountered medical emergency, 83 (37%). Equipment that were available in most departments were stethoscope (81.8%), sphygmomanometer (79.7%), and oxygen cylinder (74.0%). Medications that were readily present were epinephrine (88.1%), glucose (83.2%), and aspirin (76.2%). Seventy-six (53.1%) respondents were not very well prepared to manage a presenting emergency. Twenty-two (85.3%) respondents suggested hands-on courses to improve their skills. About 56 (39.2%) respondents revealed that their departments were not well equipped to handle medical emergencies.

Conclusion Most dentists will get to experience an emergency event during their practice for which they may be underprepared and lack appropriate skill and certainty in management. It also portrays serious lack of preparedness in the supporting staff as well as clinics being deficient in important emergency medication and equipment.

Keywords

dentistry - emergencies - hospitals - teaching

Disclaimer

Manuscript has been read and approved by all authors. The dataset used in the current study is available on request from Dr. Khaloud Tariq at khaloud.tariq@ucd.uol.edu.




Publication History

Article published online:
15 February 2022

© 2022. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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