Effects of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and its role in affecting the work efficiency of dentists during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BACKGROUND: The risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection through droplets/aerosol in dental clinics has renewed focus on the utility and possible adverse effects of using personal protective equipment (PPE) on dentists. OBJECTIVE: To obtain information from a cross-section of dentists regarding their...
| Published in: | Work Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. 3 - 11 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Sage Publications Inc.
2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=172329146&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 172329146 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 10519815 3RC jtl: Work issn: 10519815 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2023 vid: 76 iid: 1 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. place: Thousand Oaks, California artinfo: ui: 172329146 162129324 172329146 172329146 10.3233/WOR-220083 172329146 ppf: 3 ppct: 8 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Effects of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and its role in affecting the work efficiency of dentists during the COVID-19 pandemic. aug: au: Jain, Vedushi M. Parihar, Soumya Raj Singh Acharya, Shruthi Acharya, Shashidhar affil: Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, India sug: subj: Personal Protective Equipment Utilization Dentists Organizational Efficiency COVID-19 Pandemic Risk Assessment Human Cross Sectional Studies Structured Questionnaires Social Media Questionnaires Logistic Regression Health Personnel Aerosols Personal Protective Equipment Adverse Effects Data Analysis Software Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient Descriptive Statistics Adult Middle Age Male Female Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: BACKGROUND: The risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection through droplets/aerosol in dental clinics has renewed focus on the utility and possible adverse effects of using personal protective equipment (PPE) on dentists. OBJECTIVE: To obtain information from a cross-section of dentists regarding their PPE usage and to evaluate the possible risk factors that can influence their work efficiency. METHODS: A 31-item cross-sectional survey with a structured multiple-choice questionnaire was designed. Social media and emails were used to circulate the questionnaire among dental professionals worldwide. A total of 317 respondents returned the completed forms. RESULTS: A total of 184 (55%) participants reported getting soaking wet while wearing PPE at the end of the working hours (approximately eight hours of working). Many respondents (n = 286, 90%) reported that the use of PPE resulted in reduced visibility of the operating field. The majority of respondents (84%) felt that their overall work efficiency had reduced after using PPE. Binary logistic regression had shown that two significant factors that were associated with reduced work efficiency included, pre-existing systemic illness and getting soaking wet from wearing a PPE. CONCLUSION: Definite protocols should be introduced that mandate the doffing of PPE for every patient, in a separate well-ventilated area where the skin can recuperate from the heat and pressure points caused by the PPE. Dentists should take greater care in choosing the appropriate PPE to prevent exacerbation of pre-existing illnesses, which may reduce their work efficiency. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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