Oral cancer knowledge and awareness among dental students

AIM: To assess the knowledge and attitude of undergraduate dental students about oral cancer. METHODS: A cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted based on a questionnaire containing 15 questions about prevention, clinical aspects, and attitudes towards oral cancer. One hundred-thirty-three undergraduate dental students between the second and fifth years were enrolled. The statistical significance was measured by Pearson's chi-square test. RESULTS: There was a predominance of females (58.65%) and most students were between 20 and 30 years of age (75.19%). The risk factors for oral cancer mainly described by the students were smoking (92.48%) and drinking (84.21%). Squamous cell carcinoma was described as the most common type of oral cancer by 48.12% of the students. As much as 53.38% of the participants considered the tongue as the most affected anatomic region, 57.89% reported ulcers as the most frequent clinical aspect, and 44.36% attributed a firm and painless aspect to the regional metastatic lymph nodes. Most students reported regularly conducting a thorough examination of the oral cavity (81.95%). Two of the 15 variables showed differences between the students, according to the school time: previous head and neck carcinoma (Pearson's chi-square, p = 0.03) and guidance on the discontinuation of harmful habits (Pearson's chi-square, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Students have a good knowledge of the etiology of oral cancer and are apparently alert in their examinations. The clinical aspects of the oral carcinoma, however, are not so clear. The difference regarding knowledge and attitudes towards oral cancer was minimal when different undergraduate years were considered. It is necessary to implement the clinical suspicion of oral cancer throughout the undergraduate course to enable awareness and early diagnosis.

Representações sociais das infecções hospitalares elaboradas pelos profissionais de saúde / Representaciones sociales de las infeciones hospitalares elaboradas por profesionales de salud / Social representations of hospital infections elaborated by health professionals

O estudo objetivou apreender e analisar as Representações Sociais das Infecções Hospitalares elaboradas pelos profissionais e estudantes de saúde de um hospital público de Teresina-PI. Pesquisa descritiva, com abordagem qualitativa. Os dados foram produzidos a partir do teste de associação livre de palavras, e processados pelo software Tri-Deux Mots, que deram origem a 563 palavras como respostas para os estímulos: Infecção hospitalar, procedimentos invasivos, esterilização de material, precaução padrão. O posicionamento dos sujeitos da pesquisa frente à infecção hospitalar foi evidenciado com evocações, tais como: paramentação, sondagem e mãos. O resultado reforça a ênfase dada pelos profissionais da saúde à paramentação para sua própria proteção e a do paciente durante procedimentos invasivos, ressaltando a importância do cuidado com as mãos.

This study has the aim to analyze the Social Representation of the Hospital Infections elaborated by health professionals and health students of a public hospital of Teresina-PI. The study has a quantitative and descriptive approach. The data was produced based on the free association of words test and processed by the Tri-Deux Mots software gave origin to 563 words as response to the following stimulus: Hospital infection, invasive procedures, sterilization of materials and standard. The positions of the subjects regarding hospital infection was demonstrated with words such as: paramentation, probing and hands. The results reinforce the emphasis given by the health professionals to the paramentation for his own and the patient protection during invasive procedures, pointing out the importance to the hands hygiene.

El estudio objetivó aprehender e analizar las Representaciones Sociales de las Infecciones Hospitalarias elaboradas por los profesionales e estudiantes de salud de un hospital estatal de Teresina-PI. Pesquisa descriptiva, con abordaje cualitativa. Los dados fueron producidos a partir de teste de asociación libre de palabras, y procesados por el software Tri-Deux Mots, que dieron origen a 563 palabras como respuestas para los estímulos: Infección hospitalario, procedimientos invasivos, esterilización de material, precaución padrón. El posicionamiento de los sujetos de la investigación frente a la infección hospitalario fue evidenciado con evocaciones, tales como: paramentación, sondaje y manos. El resultado refuerza la énfasis dada por los profesionales de la salud a la paramentación para su propia protección y la del paciente durante procedimientos invasivos, resaltando la importancia del cuidado con las manos.