Knowledge, attitude and ability to provide first aid in acute conditions among dental students at Lithuanian university of health sciences

Relevance of the problem and aim of the work: Intervention in the human body is carried out, drugs and devices are used during the dental procedures in the mouth which is relatively intimate place of the human body. All these stimuli combined with a person's general health can affect the development of an acute condition. A doctor have to be confident and know how to provide first aid in order to avoid consequences. Dentistry students begin their practices with patients at the third course. They must already be familiar with the peculiarities of first aid during acute conditions. The aim of the work: to assess the knowledge of 3rd, 4th and 5th course dental students of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS) about acute conditions and first aid.Materials and the methods: An anonymous survey was conducted with 3rd, 4th and 5th course dental students from the Faculty of Dentistry of LUHS. The questionnaire consisted of 19 questions. A total of 269 students were interviewed. Response rate 76%. Statistical data analysis was performed using „IBM SPSS Statistics 26.00“ and „MS Excel 2007“. The chi-square (χ2) test was used to determine the distribution of qualitative attribute values and the relationship between these attributes. The significance level of 0.05 was selected to verificate statistical hypotheses.Results: The level of students knowledge about first aid was found to be satisfactory. The frequency of correct responses varied from 42.8% to 78.4%. The fifth year students showed a significantly higher level of knowledge comparing to other courses. The level of knowledge is higher for students studying in Lithuanian language than in English. The majority of respondents (94.0%) would like to get more information on the topic. Conclusions: students' knowledge about emergency situations and first aid is satisfactory. In order to improve their knowledge and to develop the confidence of future dentists, sufficient theoretical and practical first aid sessions need to be ensured