Self-reported preparedness for medical emergencies among dentists in two hospitals in Benin City

Abstract

Context: Medical emergencies have been known to occur in dental offices and can lead to loss of life if not well managed.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess self-reported preparedness by practicing dentists for management of medical emergencies in Benin City, Nigeria.
Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was completed by dentist in a teaching and general hospital in Benin City.
Results: Majority of respondent (86.6%) reported to have received either theoretical or practical or both training in medical emergency at  undergraduate level. While only 46.7% have had training post graduation.
Only 6.7% of respondent have certification in both basic life support and advanced trauma life support, while only 20% participated in emergency drills in the last six months prior to this study. Non availability of emergency kit was reported by 43.3% of the respondent. No respondent knew of the availability of a complete emergency kit. Only adrenaline, oral glucose, diazepam, oxygen and AMBU bag were reported to be available
by 36.7%, 16.7%, 33.3%, 33.3% and 23.3% of the respondents  respectively. Only 40% of the respondents felt competent to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Conclusion: Preparedness for management of medical emergencies was found to be inadequate among the surveyed dentists. The need for improvement of the training of practicing dentists in the management of
medical emergencies at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing education levels as well as the need for organization of the dental workplace to handle such emergencies cannot be overemphasized.

Keywords: Medical emergency, preparedness, Competence, Dentists