Knowledge and Practice of Post Exposure Prophylaxis among BDS Interns

ABSTRACT

Dental students face various threats during the time of their clinical training and learning, one of those is the possibility to be exposed to blood-borne infections, with the associated risk of HIV. According to UNAIDS, presently there are approximately 36.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS across the globe. The types of exposure which may pose risk to the dentist of acquiring blood-borne pathogens may be; percutaneous injury (e.g., Injury with needle-stick or with a sharp instrument), contact with the mucous membranes of the mouth or eye, contact with non-intact skin (e.g. chapped or abraded skin, or dermatitis affected skin). Methods: This was a cross sectional analytical study, conducted among Interns of various dental colleges of Lucknow, U.P. The study population of only 275 BDS interns voluntarily completed the questionnaire. A self-administrated questionnaire consisting of 14 close-ended items was used for data collection. The interns were given the questionnaire at the time of their clinical posting in various departments and were asked to fill it out without discussing it in fifteen minutes. Results: Total of 274 interns completed the survey. 83.2 % (n=228) interns heard about the term PEP. 93 % said that there should be guidelines regarding PEP in working areas, and 95% said that PEP can reduce the chances of developing AIDS in patients exposed accidentally to the used instrument/syringe. 53.3 % i.e. 146 interns had been pricked accidentally by infected instrument / Syringe. shockingly only 18 % interns went for the right way of PEP i.e. they first washed the prick area under running water, got the lab test of the patient and of self-done and by the time report comes they sought for medical advice and started the drug regimen. Conclusions: As this study as well as other studies in past have revealed that this is not rare for a dental practitioner to get pricked by any infected instrument or syringe during working on dental patients, the education of BDS students in Post Exposure Prophylaxis is mandatory which is not at all a part of BDS curriculum and thereby keeping dental graduates devoid of this life saving knowledge