ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE
Coronavirus disease has been a major global concern for the past 4 years. Infection prevention and control training and practices would go a long way in curbing the spread of the disease. The main objective of this study is to assess the perception, behaviors, risk and infection control practices amongst clinical dental students, student dental nurses and house officers in UBTH, Nigeria.
METHODS
This was a cross‐sectional study of dental students, dental technician student and dental house officers/intern from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital UBTH, Nigeria. Self‐administered questionnaires were distributed to participants. Correct responses to the 23‐item questionnaire on COVID‐19 knowledge and preventive behaviors were scored to determine their knowledge level. A Likert scale of 1‐5 was used to assess the 2‐item risk perception questions. The level of significance was set at P values ≤ 0.05.
RESULTS
A total of 136 respondents participated in the study of which 58 were male and 78 were female. Of these participants, 68 (50%) were dental students, 49 (36%) were dental surgery technician students and 19 (14%) were dental house officer/interns. 66.2% 0f dental students, 77.6% of dental surgery technician students and 94.7% of dental house officers/interns had a good behavior to COVID-19.
CONCLUSION
This study showed that there was sufficienst level of knowledge of COVID-19 possessed by dental students, dental surgery technician student and dental interns being described in ascending order of knowledge levels.
