Bontà, Giuliana; Campus, Guglielmo; Cagetti, Maria Grazia (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and dental hygienists in Italy: a questionnaire survey. BMC health services research, 20(1), p. 994. BioMed Central 10.1186/s12913-020-05842-x
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OBJECTIVE
This online cross-sectional survey assesses the signs/symptoms, the protective measures taken and the awareness and risk perception regarding COVID-19 among Italian dental hygienists. All Italian dental hygienists were invited to participate. The ad hoc online questionnaire was divided into four domains: personal data, protective measures (-before patient arrival; -in the waiting room; -in the operating room) and PPE, awareness and risk perception.
RESULTS
Two-thousand-seven-hundred-ninety-eight subjects participated. Only 0.25% of the sample was positive to the virus. Sense of fatigue (8.19%), headache (7.81%) and sore throat (7.32%) were the most common symptoms. A statistically significant trend across the areas with a different prevalence of COVID-19 was observed related to the number of signs/symptoms (areas z = 6.38 p < 0.01). Overall, 90.55% of the sample used protective glasses or visor, 90.10% disposable gloves and 82.80% surgical mask. Regarding the confidence to avoid the infection, a statistically significant difference was found among dental hygienists belonging to the 3 years-professional-experiences groups who worked in the high COVID-19 prevalence area. The findings of this survey show that Italian dental hygienists have modified their working habits according to the professional risk related to the current pandemic and they seem correctly prepared to face the risk of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > School of Dental Medicine > Department of Preventive, Restorative and Pediatric Dentistry |
UniBE Contributor: |
Campus, Guglielmo Giuseppe |
Subjects: |
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health |
ISSN: |
1472-6963 |
Publisher: |
BioMed Central |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Daniela Zesiger |
Date Deposited: |
04 Dec 2020 16:27 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:42 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1186/s12913-020-05842-x |
PubMed ID: |
33129340 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
COVID-19 Dental hygienist Protective measures Symptoms |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.148730 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/148730 |
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