Biossegurança em Odontologia: conduta dos estudantes antes e após uma ação educativa

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of and adherence to biosafety and infection control norms of dental students. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out with students from 4th to 10th semester, enrolled in the second half of 2017. An educational intervention to reinforce biosafety knowledge was implemented through the distribution of information flyers to students and poster placement in areas of high pedestrian circulation. Sociodemographic and biosafety information was collected before and after the intervention using a validated questionnaire. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed with the chi-square test using SPSS software, version 19. The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The sample consisted of 653 students, most of them female, between the 7th and 10th semesters, with a mean age of 22.6 years. Beforeand after the intervention, more than 80% always used physical protection barriers.The frequency of environment disinfection and use of personal protection equipment decreased after the intervention. Always performing instrument washing increased from 95.4% to 96.6% after the intervention, while sterilization decreased from 100% to 98.8%. There was an association between the use of personal protection equipment with being women and with semester (p <0.001). We conclude that students in initial semesters more often adhere to biosafety standards. Knowledge about biosafety was not satisfactory for infection control even after the educational intervention.