RESUMEN
Background: Parents play an important role in recognizing and treating paediatric fever as well as initiating home treatment. Their knowledge and attitude can greatly influence paediatric fever treatment and parental phobia may at times lead to overtreatment of fever. Objectives of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents towards childhood fever. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Paediatric department at Saveetha Medical College, Chennai. Data collection from parents was done using a questionnaire to study the knowledge, attitude and practices of parents towards fever and its management in children. Data analysis was done using SPSS 16 software.Results: Total 100 parents participated in the study, most of participants were mothers (69%) and 51% were between 20-30 years. 67% parents believed that fever could cause harmful effects like convulsions and delirium whereas 61% parents believed that consumption of large doses of antipyretic is harmful. Majority of parents 87% were aware that vaccinations can cause fever. Around 82% of parents declared that they had sleepless nights whenever their child was febrile. Majority of the parents 95% stated that they confirmed the presence of fever in their child by tactile assessment. About half the parents preferred using injections for reducing fever than oral medications.Conclusions: The study revealed presence of high levels of anxiety in majority of parents highlighting the need for reassurance and counsel ling by health professionals. Since most of the parents relied on tactile assessment for fever, there is a need to educate them about proper use of a thermometer for accurate detection and better assessment of fever.
RESUMEN
Evaluación de los métodos de diagnóstico utilizados en la detección de caries dental por Odontólogos venezolanos. La utilización del explorador en el diagnostico de la caries dental es un tema controversial debido a su baja sensitividad y alta especificidad. El propósito de esta investigación fue conocer los métodos, procedimientos y criterios de detección de caries comúnmente usados en una muestra de odontólogos venezolanos. Se incluyó una muestra al azar de 97 odontólogos egresados de universidades nacionales y para la evaluación se utilizó un cuestionario diseñado para tal fin y la entrevista fue realizada por el mismo encuestador. Los resultados de este estudio demostraron que el método de detección más usado fue el de exploración táctil (100 por ciento), seguido por el método visual (74 por ciento) y el radiográfico (32 por ciento). El 37 por ciento de los odontólogos encuestados afirmo realizar profilaxis previa a la evaluación. Con relación a los criterios que tomaron en cuenta los encuestados para la evaluación visual de la lesión de caries dental se observó que un 58 por ciento de la muestra evaluada manifestó cambios en la translucidez como indicativo de lesión, 81 por ciento cambios en la opacidad, 88 por ciento considera el cambio de color y 90 por ciento consideró la presencia de cavidades. Los criterios para el diagnóstico de caries con explorador fueron la detección de fondo blando y enganche del explorador. Al analizar el tipo de instrumento utilizado los resultados demostraron que el 62 por ciento de los odontólogos encuestados utiliza el explorador punta fina; 38 por ciento, el de punta roma y 79 por ciento el hilo dental, como métodos táctiles en la detección de caries. Los resultados de esta investigación indican que el uso del método táctil con el explorador como instrumento principal para la detección de la lesión de caries, aunado a los criterios con los cuales están siendo utilizado puede conducir a un gran número
The use of a probe for dental caries diagnosis is controversial due to its low sensitivity and high specificity. Objective: The goal of this investigation was to identify the methods, procedures and criteria commonly applied and used by a sample of Venezuelan dentists for the detection of dental caries. A survey was used on a sample of 97 dentists who graduated from national universities, and randomly chosen. For the evaluation, a questionnaire was designed and an interview was made by the same investigator. The explorer was used for caries detection by all surveyed dentists (100 percent), in addition a visual appraisal by 74 percent and additional use of radiographic methods by 32 percent. The use of the prophylaxis prior to the evaluation was in 37 percent. Considering the criteria applied for caries diagnosis by visual evaluation, 58 percent changes in the translucency as a sign of caries lesion, 81 percent considered changes in opacity, 88 percent considered change of color and 90 percent considered true cavitation. The criteria used by dentists for the diagnosis of caries with the explorer were the detection of soft tissue and catching of the explorer. When analyzing the type of instrument used for diagnosis of caries with the tactile method, the results demonstrated that 62 percent used a sharp explorer, 38 percent used a blunt explorer and 79 percent used a dental thread as diagnostic tools. The results of this investigation indicate that the surveyed dentists use the tactile method for the detection of dental caries; specifically the explorer as the main instrument used for diagnosis. This can lead to a great number of false positives and false negatives due to the criteria with which its being applied