Practices and perceptions of medical and dental proffesionals against the prevention of novel corona virus / covid-19 in india- a comparative questionnaire study

Introduction: COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic originated in China, currently impacting India in a very unprecedented manner. The challenge is to take precautions and preventive measuresin order to control the spread amongst. Thus thorough knowledge of preventive precautions is important among medical and dental professionals. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate by means of a questionnaire, the practices and perceptions of medical and dental professional in prevention of Covid-19 in India.
Aim: Aim of this study was to assess practices and perceptions of Indian medical professionals and dentists on prevention of COVID-19.
Materials And Methods: A online Questionnaire based survey was conducted from 21-10-2020 to 14-11-2020. All the questions check the knowledge of preventive practice measures of medical and dental professionals. A total of 252 samples were collected comprising of 126 medical professionals and 126 dental professionals.
Results: Medical professionals (39.7%) prefer direct examination over telecommunication, whereas dental professionals (61.1%) prefer telecommunication over direct examination. The PPE will be used to all patients by dental professionals (70.6%), compared with the medical professionals (58%). Dental professionals (87.3%) schedule single patient appointment while less number of medical professionals (50%) prefer the single patient appointment. Dental professionals (81%) maintain social distancing while communicating with patient whereas number of medical professionals (67.1%) who follow this is comparatively less. Medical professionals (90.5%) treat more inpatients than dental professionals (11.1%), and also medical professionals (72.2%) treat more covid-19 patients than dental professionals (23.8%). COVID -19 patients visit medical professionals (90.5%)frequently than dental professionals (11.1%). The daily patient exposure of medical professionals (88.1%) is more compared to dental professionals (31.7%).
Conclusion: Within in the limitations of this study, the practice and perception of medical and dental professionals on prevention of COVID-19 found to be satisfactory. The preventive precautions are taken by both the dental and medical professionals, but the number of patients which dental professionals get exposed to is less compared to medical professionals which makes the dental professionals less susceptible to COVID-19 infection.