DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i04.012

Pages: 1161-1165

The present study was undertaken to carry out a qualitative evaluation of preventive practices against swine flu at a tertiary care government dental college in Northern India. The Methodology was A total of 15 dental practitioners working in various departments of dental college were enrolled in the study and were subjected to a qualitative assessment using a semi-structured protocol targeted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of dental practitioners with respect to prevention against swine flu. The data so collected was then categorized according to the themes and is represented in terms of numbers and percentages. In Results The gender ratio of the study was 3:1 (M:F). Out of 15 respondents included in the study, 12 were postgraduate students and 3 were undergraduate interns. Only 1 (16.7%) respondent had knowledge regarding appropriate face mask for prevention against swine flu. Patient assessment at enrolment, practices like wearing face mask, sanitizing hands after procedures, wearing gloves were followed casually with compliance rates ranging from 0% to 66.7%. Practice of using a new set of autoclaved instruments for each patient was practiced only by 1 (6.7%) respondent. Use of other sterilizing agents for each patient was also reported by 1 (6.7%) respondent. None of the respondents were vaccinated against H1N1 A. A total of 4 (26.7%) respondents were not vaccinated against Hepatitis, H1N1 or Tetanus. In Conclusion the preventive practices against H1N1 A influenza were poor in absence of adequate knowledge and attitude of the dental practitioners.