Investigation of Turkish dentists clinical attitudes and behaviors towards the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey study

Abstract Currently, the whole world is under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, and dentists are at high risk. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of precautions Turkish dentists take in dental clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study population consisted of dentists in Turkey. An online questionnaire (23 questions-57 items) was sent to a sample of Turkish dentists from March 16 to March 20, 2020. The questionnaire comprised a series of questions about dentists' demographic characteristics, their concerns, and the measures taken in dental clinics against COVID-19. This study included a total of 1,958 Turkish dentists. A total of 1,274 (65.1%) were general dentists, and 684 (34.9%) were specialists. Five hundred twenty-two (26.7%) dentists attended an informational meeting on COVID-19. Of these dentists, 69.8% were aware of COVID-19 according to their self-assessed knowledge scores. More than 90% of the dentists were concerned about themselves and their families. Only 12% of the dentists wore an N95 mask. Although Turkish dentists took some precautionary measures, they did not take enough precautions to protect themselves, the dental staff, and other patients from COVID-19. As the number of COVID-19 cases increased, the measures taken slightly increased in dental clinics as well. Dentists are strongly recommended to take maximum precautions in the clinical setting. The guidelines about the COVID-19 pandemic should be sent to all dentists by the regional and national dental associations.

Falls from height: A retrospective analysis / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

BACKGROUND:Emergency services manage trauma patients frequently and falls from height comprise the main cause of emergency service admissions. In this study, we aimed to analyse the demographic characteristics of fal s from height and their relationship to the mortality. METHODS:A total of 460 patients, who admitted to the Emergency Department of Inonu University between November 2011 and November 2014 with a history of fall from height, were examined retrospectively. Demographic parameters, fall characteristics and their effect to mortality were evaluated statistically. RESULTS:The study comprised of 292 (63.5％) men and 168 (36.5％) women patients. The mean age of all patients was 27±24.99 years. Twenty-six (5.6％) patients died and the majority of them were in ≥62 years old group. The highest percentage of falls was at 0–5 years age group (28.3％). People fell mainly from 1.1–4 metres(m) level (46.1％). The causes of falls were ordered as unintentional (92.2％), workplace (8.1％) and suicidal (1.7％). Skin and soft tissue injuries (37.4％) were the main traumatic lesions. CONCLUSION:Age, fall height, fall place, linear skull fracture, subarachnoidal hemorrhage, cervical fracture, thoracic vertebra fracture and trauma scores had statistically significant effect on mortality. The casualties died because of subarachnoid hemorrhage mostly.