Knowledge and Perceptions Regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19) among Pediatric Dentists during Lockdown Period

Aim: To assess the knowledge and perceptions of COVID-19 among pediatric dentists based on their dependent source of information. Methods: A descriptive-analytical cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire with 23 questions was sent via Google forms to pediatric dentists. All participants were divided into three groups [postgraduate residents (PGs), private practitioners (PP), and faculty (F)]. The comparison of knowledge and perception scores was made based on occupation, source of information, and descriptive statistics used for the analysis using SPSS 21.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: A total of 291 pediatric dentists completed the survey, and the majority of them were females (65%). Overall, good mean scores were obtained for knowledge (9.2 ± 1.07) and perceptions (5.6 ± 1.5). The majority of the participants used health authorities (45%) to obtain updates on COVID-19, while social media (35.1%) and both (19.6%) accounted for the next two. A statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) was found among different pediatric dentists groups for relying on the source of information. Conclusion: Overall good pediatric dentists showed sufficient knowledge regarding COVID-19. The pediatric dentists’ age, occupation, and source of information influenced knowledge regarding COVID-19, whereas perceptions were influenced by age and gender of the participants. Health authorities successfully educated pediatric dentists than the social media

Psychotherapists Working in Private Practice During a Pandemic: A Literature Review

Psychotherapists in private practice provide services to an ever-growing client population. The 2020 novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic was a catalyst for emerging and exasperated mental health concerns among the U.S. population. The result was an increase in demand for services and private practitioners stepping up to meet this growing need. Little is known about the psychotherapists who embark on independent practice and less is known about the nuances of practicing during a global pandemic. The aim of this review was to exhaust the literature on private practice psychotherapy and the practice of psychotherapy during COVID-19, synthesize the findings, report on themes in the literature, and provide recommendations for future lines of inquiry. Themes from this review included the impact of COVID-19 on public mental health, telemental health, private practice shifts, and private practice careers.

Changing Preferences for Scientific Meetings Platform Among Doctors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Questionnaire-Based Survey

Background: The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the COVID‑19 as a global pandemic in early 2020. Lockdown was declared by the Indian government across the country. No recommendations were laid down for academic scientific meetings. Despite precautions, there is a high risk of infections in the physical meetings. Therefore, the scientific community resorted to virtual meetings. Objectives: This study was done to determine the doctor's preferred platform for scientific meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional survey among doctors using Google forms. It consisted of a questionnaire consisting of 17 validated questions related to the preference of scientific meetings. Results: We had 314 responses from doctors. The virtual meeting was preferred by 154 (49%) doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Convenience (103, 44.2%) was the most important reason for preferring virtual meetings. We did not find a statistical association in preference for the type of meeting with age, gender, and seniority during the pandemic. However, a significantly higher number of doctors practicing super-specialty (P = 0.005) and private practitioners (P = 0.027) preferred virtual meetings. All age groups preferred physical meetings in the future, but it was preferred to large extent by doctors aged more than 50 years (P = 0.059) with broad specialty (P = 0.005) and medical college doctors (P = 0.002). Conclusions: Most doctors preferred virtual meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The super-specialist and private practitioners preferred virtual meetings during the pandemic and even in the future. Hence, the virtual platform should stay along with physical scientific meetings.

Prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in gynaecologists working during COVID-19 pandemic - In private practitioners at Tamilnadu

The research paper titled the Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety and stress in gynaecologists working during the COVID-19 pandemic in private practitioners at Tamil Nadu. The objective is to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in Gynaecologist who are working during the COVID-19 pandemic practicing privately in Tamil Nadu. Descriptive research is applied using the convenience method of sampling with 118 gynaecologists. Most respondents were female, and the majority of the age group were less than 29 years. It is found that the high prevalence of mental health conditions amongst doctors’ demonstration that mental health carries within the speciality and the key contributory factors to poor mental health. Health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could be psychologically stressed. To assess the magnitude of mental health outcomes and associated factors among health care workers treating patients exposed to COVID-19. This cross-sectional, survey-based, region-stratified study collected demographic data and mental health measurements from 118 health care workers. Health care workers in hospitals equipped with fever clinics or wards for patients with COVID-19 were eligible. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on public mental health. Therefore, monitoring and oversight of the population mental health during crises such as a pandemic is an immediate priority. The aim of this study is to analyze the existing research works and findings in relation to the prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Private Practitioners Knowledge of Local Anaesthetic Systemic Toxicity (LAST)

BACKGROUND Local anaesthetics (LAs) by definition are drugs that reversibly block the transmission of a nerve impulse, causing reversible absence of pain sensations without affecting consciousness. As a complication of local anaesthetic administration, a condition called as local anaesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) can occur which affects central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular system (CVS). Local anaesthetic systemic toxicity is a very serious condition that can cause death. In LAST, blood levels of anaesthetic agent exceed the maximum dose, usually as a result of multiple injections or an accidental injection into a vein. The main objective of this survey was to assess the knowledge of LAST among private practitioners and to spread awareness about this common but often neglected complication of local anaesthetic administration. METHODS A survey was conducted with a questionnaire comprising of 15 questions for 251 private practitioners (registered in Indian Dental Association, Gurugram). The survey was mailed to the participants and the response was collected through online mode only. Using Excel program, the results were organized in graphs and tables, and presented as descriptive statistics. RESULTS Of the 251 surveys sent online, 151 were completed, with a survey completion rate of 60 %. On an average, only 39.9 % of the participating dentists had adequate knowledge of local anaesthetic systemic toxicity. Based on the survey, only 3.3 % of participating dentists knew how to use lipid treatment and 55.6 % had no idea about lipid treatment. CONCLUSIONS If LAST occurs, the key is to recognize it immediately and institute appropriate management. Based on the survey, there is a need to create awareness about local anaesthetic systemic toxicity and its management among dentists. KEY WORDS Local Anaesthesia, Last, Complication, Toxicity, Overdose

Unequal Impact of COVID-19 on Private and Academic Neurosurgical Workforce: Results of an International Survey

Background: Since the COVID-19 outbreak several manuscripts regarding neurosurgical practice during this pandemic have been published. Qualitative studies on how the pandemic affected neurosurgeons, with additional focus on their practice, are still scarce. This study's objective was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on various aspects of the professional and private life of a homogeneous group of international neurosurgeons affiliated to the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS).Methods: Neurosurgeons from Europe and abroad were invited to participate in an online survey endorsed by the Individual Membership Committee of the EANS. The survey captured a subjective snapshot of the impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on EANS members and was advertised through its Institutional website. In addition to departmental data, personal feeling of safety, financial security, local precautions, number of surgeries performed, changes in daily routine, and other practice-related information were inquired. Differences among practice types were closely reviewed.Results: The survey was distributed between April and May 2020: 204 neurosurgeons participated. Participants were typically active EANS members (73%), consultants (57.9%), from university hospitals (64.5%). Elective surgical practice was still ongoing only for 15% of responders, whereas 18.7% of them had already transitioned to COVID-19 and emergency medical services. While 65.7% of participants thought their institutions were adequately prepared, lack of testing for SARS-CoV-2, and scarcity of personal protective equipment were still a matter of concern for most of them. Overall surgical activity dropped by 68% (cranial by 54%, spine by 71%), and even emergencies decreased by 35%. COVID-19 prompted changes in communication in 74% of departments, 44% increased telemedicine by &gt;50%. While most neurosurgeons had concerns about personal and families' health, financial outlook appeared to be gloomy only for private practitioners.Conclusion: The lockdown imposed in many countries by the COVID-19 outbreak called for immediate modification of working routine and resulted in a dramatic decrease of elective surgical procedures. Neurosurgeons share common concerns but were not equally exposed to the personal health and financial dangers of the ongoing pandemic.

The impact of implementing a psychiatric emergency hotline on the reduction of acute hospitalizations in a Swiss tertiary hospital

Background Inpatient treatment is not the most beneficial treatment setting for many patients with psychiatric disorders and overcrowding is a recurrent problem for psychiatric hospitals. Therefore, it is important to develop strategies to limit avoidable inpatient treatment. This study sought to evaluate the impact of an emergency hotline that was developed to better manage psychiatric patients, particularly for identifying those requiring a hospital admission. Methods This pre-post intervention quality improvement study compared changes in the management of psychiatric patients’ admission before and after the introduction of an emergency hotline where a specialist in psychiatry examines all inpatient referral from private practitioners. Main outcomes were the change in proportion of hospital admissions after referral from a private practitioner before and within 3 months after the intervention. Secondary outcomes were the average length of hospital stay, proportion of non-voluntary admission, the time required for triage and the impact of the intervention on treatments’ costs. Fisher’s Exact test was used to test the primary hypothesis of difference in the proportion of hospitalized patients before and after introduction of the emergency hotline. Secondary outcomes were tested with Student’s t-test for continuous variables and Fishers’s Exact test for proportions. Results Among 45 admission requests from private practitioners during the 3 months after introduction of the new emergency hotline, 25 (55.6%) were accepted as inpatient treatment, while 20 (44%) were redirected to more appropriate outpatient treatments. There was a highly significant difference from the baseline period during which all 34 requests were accepted (44% vs 100%, p < 0.001). In addition, for the patients hospitalized after the introduction of the emergency hotline there was a trend-level reduction of the average length of stay (9.32 days vs 17.35 days). Conclusion Implementation of an emergency hotline manage by a specialist in psychiatry for admissions to acute psychiatric wards is feasible and simple to use. Importantly, it allows to significantly decrease the proportion of hospitalizations. Additional studies are needed to assess the generalizability of these exploratory results to other health care settings.

Regulation of quackery amid unprecedented HIV outbreak in Sindh, Pakistan

Objective: To assess the problem of unlicensed practitioners and quacks in Sindh, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 29 districts of Sindh province in Pakistan from December 2019 to January 2020. Initial data available with Sindh Health Department about locations where quacks were practicing was used to identify unlicensed practitioners. A structured questionnaire was developed which contained information about certification of practitioners and an observational checklist was developed to assess infection prevention and control practices (IPC) and injection safety. Results: A total of 4315 private practitioners were inspected out of which 3022 (70%) were unlicensed health practitioners belonging to different categories. Within the six surveyed divisions of Sindh, the highest proportion of unlicensed practitioners were documented in Shaheed Benazirabad division (n=739; 24.5%) followed by Hyderabad (n=599; 19.8%). In Mirpur Khas, there were 510 (16.9%), in Karachi 310 (10.3%), in Sukkur 484 (16%) and in Larkana there were 380 (12.6%) unlicensed practitioners. Poor IPC was observed in 89.4% (3861/4315) of all health providers. Reuse of syringes and intravenous drip sets was observed among 78.7% (1916/2432) of the untrained providers across the province. It was also found that 155 MBBS doctors had given their names on rent to be used as a signboard outside the clinics of some of the unlicensed practitioners. Continuous...

An Awareness Survey on the Prevention of Covid-19 Infection at the Orthodontic Office

BACKGROUND Covid-19 pandemic has created a havoc all over the world. In the view of orthodontists, the lockdown has brought financial, emotional, and professional restrain. In order to restart the practice, we need to have a sound knowledge on the guidelines issued by the authorities. We wanted to assess the knowledge of SARS - CoV-2 infection, its impact on orthodontists and their understanding of the sanitation protocols in this study. METHODS 500 orthodontic practitioners and postgraduates who reside in India participated in the study through an online questionnaire. Intergroup comparison was made among postgraduates (PG), private practitioners (PP), both in private practice and academic institutions (PA). RESULTS 500 forms were completed and returned. The results were categorized into 3 sections - Knowledge on SARS-CoV-2, impact of Covid-19 on orthodontic practice and sanitation of the operatory. The study revealed the awareness of the infection among orthodontists at various levels of practice and their attentiveness in following Covid-19 protocol. CONCLUSIONS Orthodontic practitioners are very much aware of the seriousness of Covid-19 infection, method of spread, and its impact and sanitation protocols. Academic practitioners are more informed about the gravity of Covid-19 infection while private practitioners are robust in maintaining the sanitation standards of their operatories. KEY WORDS Orthodontist, Covid-19, Sanitation, Practitioner