Management of occupational exposures to contaminated infectious materials: knowledge and feelings among dentists

• Grant number: 11/00941-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2011
• End date: April 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Camila Pinelli
• Grantee: Luis Fernando de Oliveira Gorla
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate perceptions, feelings and knowledge related to occupational exposure to infected biological material, and related to notification of these accidents, among dentists (CDs), at Araraquara, SP, Brazil. A cross sectional qualitative study with non-probabilistic sampling will be conducted. Only will be invited the CDs, graduated with up to 30 years, who work in daily practice with patients, and who have suffered an accident of this nature. It is expected to obtain fifty volunteers. Visits to the offices /workplaces will be scheduled in advance by phone and an individual interview will be conducted in place, by means of open questions, whose testimony will be recorded in a voice recorder. Their speeches will be transcribed in paper/ computer in order to be analyzed, and the QUALI-QUANTISOFT software, which allows the Analysis of the Collective Speeches (DSC) according to three methodological figures: central ideas, key-expressions and the DSC itself (Lefèvre & Lefèvre, 2003). The present research aims to describe the perceptions and knowledge related to risks of occupational accidents resulting from occupational exposure to infected biological material, and to verify the feelings and attitudes on how to proceed after the occurrence of injuries, so as to implement educational strategies, enhancing compliance to protocols, and encouraging the reporting of these injuries.