Experience and Preparedness of Medical Emergency among Dentists of Private Dental Teaching Hospitals of Lahore

Objective Handling medical emergency in a dental clinic requires skill and specialized equipment, without which a patient's life can be in jeopardy. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of medical emergencies in dental teaching hospitals and assess the preparedness of dental professionals with regard to the handling of emergency and the equipment available for that. Materials and Methods This is a cross-sectional study employing nonprobability sampling. Data were collected from dental surgeons working in clinical specialties of five dental teaching hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. A validated questionnaire was adopted from another study evaluating emergency prevalence and preparedness. Chi square test was used to assess significant associations among categorical variables while independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare mean values among different groups. Results Prevalence of medical emergencies encountered was 7.9%. About 45% of emergency events occurred during treatment. Hypoglycemia was reported to be the most encountered medical emergency, 83 (37%). Equipment that were available in most departments were stethoscope (81.8%), sphygmomanometer (79.7%), and oxygen cylinder (74.0%). Medications that were readily present were epinephrine (88.1%), glucose (83.2%), and aspirin (76.2%). Seventy-six (53.1%) respondents were not very well prepared to manage a presenting emergency. Twenty-two (85.3%) respondents suggested hands-on courses to improve their skills. About 56 (39.2%) respondents revealed that their departments were not well equipped to handle medical emergencies. Conclusion Most dentists will get to experience an emergency event during their practice for which they may be underprepared and lack appropriate skill and certainty in management. It also portrays serious lack of preparedness in the supporting staff as well as clinics being deficient in important emergency medication and equipment.