Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Amongst Dental Postgraduate Students to Prevent the Spread of Infection - A Cross Sectional Pan-India Survey Study

BACKGROUND Healthcare worker’s adherence to prevent the spread is related directly to their knowledge and attitude towards practices. Postgraduates (PG’s) are expected to be at high risk of infection due to their exposure to saliva, blood, and aerosol / droplet production during dental procedures. We wanted to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of Indian dental postgraduate students to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19). METHODS The comprehensive cross-sectional survey questionnaire study was designed. The survey was conducted in the lockdown period (May 2020) among the Indian dental postgraduate students. A total of 1560 postgraduates made up the sample of study. The survey questionnaire was divided into four parts as demographic details, knowledge (9), attitude (7), and practice (5). The institutional ethical committee approved the study. The obtained data were transferred to the SPSS 13.01 program to draw the result. RESULTS Among the total participants (N = 1570), 64.81 % were women, 20 % of the total postgraduate students were not working in college. When the subjects were questioned regarding knowledge of Covid-19, female postgraduates compared to male, non working postgraduates, working postgraduate students of central zone and other zones showed higher knowledge. Also, while assessing the attitude and preventive measures taken by postgraduates, statistically significant difference was obtained irrespective of knowledge. CONCLUSIONS Dental postgraduate students did not have sufficient knowledge about the present critical situation. It is necessary that they should update their knowledge by pursuing educational courses regarding Covid-19 and by improving the standard of selfprotection. KEY WORDS Coronavirus 19, Dental Postgraduate, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Survey