Occupational exposure to contaminated biological material: perceptions and feelings experienced among dental students

• Grant number: 12/03735-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2012
• End date: October 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Camila Pinelli
• Grantee: Luis Felipe Garcia Leal Mouta
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate dental students' feelings in relation to occupational exposures to potentially infectious biologic materials. A convenience sample will be selected among dental students from the 3rd to 5th grades at Araraquara School of Dentistry - UNESP that perform dental treatment in patients who suffered occupational injuries. Within a universe of 200 enrolled students, it is intended to conduct the qualitative study exclusively among the ones that suffered injuries by checking the feelings experienced after exposure and their attitudes post-accident. Interviews will be conducted through a script of open questions, whose testimony will be recorded in a voice recorder. Their speeches will be transcribed on 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 verify the experienced feelings and attitudes on how to proceed after the occurrence of injuries, so as to implement additional teaching strategies, enhance and facilitate the access and compliance to protocols, and encourage the reporting of these accidents. (AU)