title: Evaluation of preparedness for medical emergencies at dental offices: A survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The best way to handle an emergency is to be prepared in advance. The purpose of this study was to assess the availability of medical emergency drugs at dental offices and to determine the level of knowledge and preparedness of dentists to manage medical emergencies at their dental offices.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2014 with 250 dental graduates to determine their knowledge and ability in the management of medical emergencies and assess availability of emergency drugs and equipments in dental offices in the Ahmedabad and Udaipur areas of India. The questionnaire consisted of mainly objective questions, requiring a simple yes or no reply. Mann-Whitney test was used for the analysis. A 95% confidence level was used and a P value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of our study showed that almost all the surveyed dentists (98%) enquired about medical history, but only 12% obtained filled health history proforma from patients regarding the above. Only 38.4% participants recorded the vital signs of patients before commencing any treatment. Also, 7.6% reported about having attended any workshops on emergency training or management programs. Emergency kits were available with only 24% participants and the available kits were assessed for the availability of emergency drugs. Also, 34% were confident about giving intramuscular injection and only 6.6% were sure about giving intravenous injections. The P value was found to be highly statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our study reflect an alarming situation about the capability of dentists to deal with such conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Goenka Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Ghandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Shweta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumarswami
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Goenka Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Ghandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Anish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Goenka Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Ghandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Mayank
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parmar
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative and Endodontics, Goenka Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Ghandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Manisha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative and Endodontics, Goenka Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Ghandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhatt
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Goenka Research Institute of Dental Sciences, Ghandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Mittal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patel
keywords: Emergency drugs; medical emergencies; survey