Resumo

FIUZA, Maria Kateryne et al. Assessment of prevalence and knowledge level of dental surgeons regarding medical emergencies. RFO UPF [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.3, pp. 295-301. ISSN 1413-4012.

Clinical dental care is certainly not limited to repercussions in the oral cavity only. The growing number of systemically affected individuals substantially increases the likelihood of emergency events occurring during dental practice. Thus, dental surgeons should be adequately prepared to deal with all types of events that might occur in their dental office. Objective: to assess the prevalence and knowledge of medical emergencies occurring during dental practice of dental surgeons in the city of Chapecó, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Subjects and method: the sample consisted of 63 dental surgeons working in Chapecó, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Data were collected using an 18-item structured questionnaire, and analyzed with the use of Excel 2010 and SPSS-20. The chi-square test was used for analyses and associations. The margin of error was 5.0%. Results: most professionals had basic life support training (54%), felt they were qualified to diagnose a medical emergency (60%), and had already been faced with situations involving a medical emergency (57%), especially syncopal episodes (23%). Regarding the arsenal of devices and medications available in the dental environment, 17% of respondents left these questions blank. As for clinical cases, the diagnosis of hypertension had a high margin of error (62%). Conclusions: although most dental surgeons claimed that they had basic life support training and were able to diagnose an emergency event, it is clear that there was a lack of equipment and drugs required for emergency situations in dental offices. Also worrying was the number of errors in the diagnosis of clinical cases.

Palavras-chave : Emergencies; Prevalence; Syncope.