Methods: The target population of the study was all dentists working in public and private offices in the city of Tehran, Iran in 2011. From the list of their cell phone numbers, 210 dentists were selected randomly. A self-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The questionnaire requested information on personal and professional characteristics of the dentists, as well as their knowledge and self-reported practice in the field of medical emergency management, and availability of required drugs and equipments to manage medical emergencies in their offices. T-test and linear regression models served for statistical analyses. This study was approved and supported by World Health Organization Patient Safety Project.
Results: Totally, 177 dentists (84%) completed the questionnaire. While most of the respondents were knowledgeable about such conditions as vasovagal syncope, diabetes, and myocardial infarction, less than 60% were aware of characteristics of hypoglycemic patients, chest pain with cardiac origin, and true cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practice. Certain shortcomings existed in the respondents' ability to diagnose and manage emergency conditions, as well as in availability of necessary drugs and equipments in their offices to manage emergencies. In regression models, while knowledge, diagnosis and practice of the dentists were not associated with any of the professional characteristics, higher diagnosis and practice scores were significantly associated with higher knowledge scores (P<0.001).
Conclusions: The results call for a need to further education on the subject for dentists. Continuing education and changing dental curriculum in different forms seems to be useful in enhancement of the self-reported knowledge and practice of practicing dentists.