Assessment of Dental Practitioners’ Knowledge and Performance regarding Coronavirus Disease 19 Pandemic Infection Prevention and Control Measures

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an international public health emergency in many countries allover the world that affects millions of people. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic declares great challenges forhealthcare workers, especially dental practitioners. Thus, the current study aimed to assess dental practitioners’knowledge and performance regarding coronavirus-19 pandemic infection prevention and control measures at MansouraSpecialist Hospital. Through a descriptive cross-section study design; 25 dental practitioners were involvedconveniently. The researcher collected their socio-demographic and occupational characteristics, assessed theirknowledge with two self-administrated structured questionnaires, and observed performance through an observationalchecklist. Results declare that 92.0% and 44% of the dental practitioners had an incompetent level of knowledge andperformance respectively regarding the COVID-19 pandemic infection prevention and control measures. The researcherconcludes that; incompetence is the dominant level in most and less than half of dental practitioners' knowledge, andperformance respectively; regarding infection prevention and control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andfinally recommends performing scheduled on-job training programs for dental practitioners on infection prevention andcontrol measures regarding the COVID-19 pandemic to update their knowledge and performance.