EVALUATION OF EXPERIENCES AND

PERCEPTION OF INTERNS OF DENTAL

COLLEGE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC - A

CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

ISSN No: 2582-0559

To access & cite this article

Website: jidam.idamadras.com

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) is a five

year undergraduate degree program. When student pass final BDS

examination, they have to complete, compulsory one year of rotatory

internship program. Internship is a period when the fresh graduates

refine their skill; get the clinical and professional skill. And above

all increase their community skill while dealing with the patient.

But the Covid pandemic has affected the internship program of the

fresh dental graduates.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the experiences &

perception of interns of dental college during Covid-19 pandemic.

METHODOLOGY:

A cross sectional study was conducted

among interns of VSPM’s Dental college & Research Centre,

Nagpur.

RESULTS:

Out of 108 participants 93 (86%) of them said that

Covid-19 crisis affected their internship training and achievement

skill. 73 (68%) of them said decrease in patients during Covid-19

pandemic affected their skills and experience. 63 (58%) of interns did

not preferred online learning experience over hands on experience

while 23 (21%) of them preferred it.

CONCLUSION:

For the interns, internship is the bonus period

where they refine their clinical skills. Due to the crisis they had

got less exposure to patients due to decrease in number of patients.

But at the same time they got a different experience while working

in this pandemic situation. They learnt how to handle the situation

while working in the pandemic situation.

KEYWORDS:

Internship program , dental interns, Covid-19

pandemic.

Volume No: 9, Issue No: 2

Address for Correspondence:

Dr Anita Rama Kahar

Hansapuri Jyotinagar Khadan, Near Durga Devi

Temple,

Nagpur (MS) India

Email id- dranitakahar@gmail.com

Received

: 29.04.2022

Accepted

: 3.06.2022

First Published

: 12.6.2022

Published

: 27.6.2022

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Dr Anita Rama Kahar, Dr Sanjana Agrawal, Dr Jayashree Joshi, Dr Usha Radke, Dr Neelam Pande

Department of Prosthodontics, VSPM Dental College & Research Centre, Nagpur (MS) India.

DOI:1.37841/jidam_2022_V9_I2_01

Volume No: 9, Issue No: 2

Anita et al: Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on internship program of dental interns

INTRODUCTION

In the month of December 2019, a novel corona virus was first

identified at Wuhan, China. Initially it was restricted to China

only but within a short period it spread out in other countries.

In the month of March it spread to India

. India is found to be

second highest country which is affected worse due to Covid-19

pandemic. In India, Maharashtra stands the highest Covid-19

burden state and the Nagpur city of Maharashtra state, orders 4

in terms of informed Covid-19 cases

. On 12

March, the first

case of Covid-19 was found in Nagpur city of Maharashtra

Covid-19 is declared as a worldwide pandemic globally by

world health organization

To control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic ,on 24

march

2020, Government of India declared a nationwide lockdown for

21days for restricting the movement of 138crore population of

India

. Till 31

May 2020, the lockdown period was stretched

in different phases. From 8

June 2020, the unlocking of

lockdown started in phases

The effect of Covid-19 is seen in each sector, it has disturbed the

medical, dental education and healthcare system too. Due to the

extremely infectious nature of the virus it was hard to continue

lectures and clinical postings of the students and interns which

had highly affected the dental education

The present study participants had appeared final BDS exam

late as per the Government policy due to lockdown. Due

to this the internship program of this batch started late. Due

to the Covid-19 pandemic the institute had arranged interns

orientation program online. Also the first clinical posting was

conducted online. After that the interns joined the college and

they were allowed to do the clinical work by following the

Covid protocol. When the second wave was in peak during the

April –May 2021; that time again the restriction has laid down

in the internship program as per the institute decision. After the

decline of this second wave, interns rejoined and started the

clinical practice.

Mainly the dental internship program is meant to improve

the intern’s skill, developing their skill and capabilities,

improvement in conversing and professional skill. Internship

program also develop intern’s scientific research skill and

boost community and volunteer dental projects

. But due to

Covid pandemic the overall OPD patients were reduced so the

interns had received less exposure during their posting. So the

expectations of interns towards internship are not fulfilled that

much.

So a need was felt to

evaluate the experiences

& perception of interns of dental college during

Covid-19 pandemic

AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

evaluate the experiences and perception of interns

of dental college during Covid-19 pandemic.

METHODOLOGY

Institutional ethical committee approval was obtained

from the institute before conducting a study with a

reference number of IEC/VSPMDCRC/44/2021.

A questionnaire based cross sectional study was

conducted among the interns of VSPM’s Dental

College and Research Centre, Nagpur. Ten item pre-

validated questionnaire

was typed in the google

form. The link of which was shared with the study

participants. Participants were asked to complete

online socio-demographic details. The data collection

was carried out for a period of one month.

TOOLS USED

A pre- validated questionnaire of ten questions was used. All the questions were close ended.

Table- Participants responses towards the questions-

Questions

Responses in

number

n-108

Responses in

Crisis of Covid-19 affected internship training and achievement of clinical

skills.

Yes

May be

Volume No: 9, Issue No: 2

Anita et al: Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on internship program of dental interns

Decrease in patients during Covid-19 pandemic affected skills and experience.

Yes

May be

Clinical procedures carried out on the patient during Covid-19 pandemic.

Yes

May be

Attitude and communication with patients is same as before Covid-19

Yes

May be

Got enough awareness and experience to work during Covid-19.

Yes

May be

Knowing of recommended infection control standards to be followed in this

crisis.

Yes

May be

Got enough awareness and experience to prevent Covid- 19 transmission in

clinical setting.

Yes

May be

Current crisis is affecting public health education level

Yes

May be

Quarantine during the pandemic gave more time to learn new things and

develop a new skill.

Yes

May be

Preference of online learning experience over hands on experience

Yes

May be

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Anita et al: Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on internship program of dental interns

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Data was collected and analysed with the help of percentage

analysis.

RESULTS

Out of 108 participants, 93 were female and 15 were male

with average age of 23 years.nAccording to the first question

93 (86%) of study participants

said

Covid-19 crisis affected

their internship training and achievement of clinical skills.

73 (68%) of them said decrease in patients during Covid-19

pandemic affected their skills and experience. During Covid-19

pandemic 51 (47%) of interns carried out clinical procedures on

the patient while 49 (45%) did not carried out any procedure on

patients. At the same time 42 (39%) of interns experienced that

their attitude and communication with patients was changed

as before Covid-19 while for 53 (49%) it was not changed. 31

(29%) of participant thought that they got enough awareness

and experience to work during Covid-19 while 53 (49%) of

them thought that they have not got the enough experience. 59

(55%) of the participants knew the recommended infection

control standards to be followed in this crisis but about 21

(19%) were not knowing.

The next question was about participant’s awareness and

experience to prevent Covid- 19 transmission in clinical setting

where the authors received very mixed responses 42 (39%)

were aware about it, 34 (31%) were not aware and 32 (30%)

were in doubt. When the authors asked about crisis effect on

public health education level; in this about 50 (46%) of the

participants said that it is affected while for 22 (20%) it was

not affected. About 28 (26%) of interns thought that being

quarantine during the pandemic gave them more time to learn

new things and develop a new skill but for 47 (44%) it was not.

63 (58%) of interns did not prefer online learning experience

over hands on experience while 23 (21%) of them preferred it.

The detail result of study questionnaire is given in table.

DISCUSSION

2021 year was a real challenging year for the citizen of

Nagpur. Nagpurians perceived the second wave of Covid-19

and subsequent destruction and deceases of it. The increase of

second wave of Covid-19 started in middle of March 2021 and

reached the peak in May 2021. The second wave behaved like a

Tsunami and many families lost their near and dear ones

Both medical and dental health care workforce were under

greater risk of getting infected with this disease. Dental care

settings was a favorable place for disease transfer

. During the

Covid pandemic, the number of patients visiting for routine

treatment were reduced

. So, interns were getting less number

of patients for treatment and so they were getting reduced

number of the patient for clinical treatment. Even, some interns

were not doing their internship regularly due to the fear of being

infected.

The present study participants had started their internship late

due to lockdown and late conduction of examination. They had

started their internship in December 2020, three months late of

scheduled period. This present study collected the responses of

the interns during the month of July-August 2021, when the

second wave peak had just gone.

According to DCI and MUHS, Nashik University, an intern has

to complete their one year rotatory internship in each department

and complete the necessary quota to avail the degree certificate.

Internship is the time where the intern learns the clinical skills,

gets the confidence to handle the patient independently and

develop a trustworthy relation with the patient. Doing internship

in Covid pandemic was a different experience for each intern.

Wearing PPE kit, face shield was a different experience. But

at the same time they had to work following the strict Covid

protocol. During peak time of second wave of Covid pandemic,

the institute took the decision of suspension of internship for

that period. Because of this the interns had missed allotted

department’s internship and also missed the experiences they

might have got from that department. Most of them missed the

aerosol practice of hand piece, ultrasonic scalers and also the

practice of taking intra oral peri-apical X-ray etc., as all these

facilities were suspended during that period.

The literature showed many studies which have accessed the

psychological effect on the interns due to this pandemic

3,9-11

but very few studies had found which has accessed the effect

on internship due to Covid pandemic

. The present study is

one of its kind which had tried to get the interns experiences

and perception while working in this pandemic situation of

Covid-19.

This Covid-19 pandemic affected each sector, about 86% of

the present study participants thought that this pandemic had

affected their internship training and achievement of clinical

skills.

The study

which has been conducted in Saudi Arabia

where the authors compared the effect of Covid pandemic on

dental and medical interns. Their study result also showed

similar results where the authors found that about 76.3% of the

dental interns thought that the

crisis of covid-19 affected their

internship training and achievement of clinical skills.

During this pandemic many people were avoiding dental visit

or postponing their dental treatment

because of which the

number of patients visiting dental institutes has reduced; in

the present study also 68% of the study participants told that

reduced number of patients affected their skill and experience.

But still 47% of the study participants had performed clinical

procedure on patients while 45% did not perform. Due to this

49% of them thought that they did not receive enough awareness

and experience to work during this crisis. 75.9% of participants

of the previous study

also

thought that they can carry out

clinical procedure during this pandemic and about 72.3% of

the

interns thought that they received enough awareness and

experience to work during covid-19 which is opposite to the

present study results. While

Hrishi et al

found that 71.7% of

their study participants are not confident to practice with the

training that they received.

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Anita et al: Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on internship program of dental interns

Whenever a patient visits an OPD, there is a proper way to

get started, but during this pandemic the OPD patient had to

attend first with the Covid-19 related questions. So definitely

the communication is changed with the patients. It has

become more precise and specific for the safe practice. 49%

of the present study participants said that their behavior and

communication is changed due to this pandemic while for

57.3% of the participants of study also

thought that

their

attitude and communication with patients is not remained same

as before covid-19.

The main purpose of orientation program for the interns to

guide the students regarding the different treatment procedures

that are given to the patient in different departments. During

this Covid pandemic special attention was given regarding the

following of Covid protocol for self and patient safety. About

55% of the study participants thought that they knew the

recommended infection control standards to be followed in this

crisis also 81.8% of the previous study participants

knew the

recommended infection control standards to be followed in this

crisis.

When the present study participants actually got into the clinical

practice they were found to be in dilemma; because 39% of

them

thought that they got enough awareness and experience to

prevent Covid- 19 transmission in clinical setting

, 31% thought

they did not received it while 30% of them were confused

whether they received it or not.

In internship, the interns learn about a communication with

the patient which help them in maintaining the relation of trust

in between them and patient. But due to Covid, every one of

us is following Covid protocol. We are making short visit to

avoid the exposure; so the authors presumed that 46% of the

present study participants thought that

current crisis is affecting

their public health education level. The previous study

result

are also showed that for

62.3% of the interns

thought that the

current crisis is affecting their public health education level

while

74.3% of the interns thought that

quarantine during the

pandemic gave them more time to learn new things and develop

a new skill. In the present study also when the second wave

of Covid pandemic was in peak, the internship was suspended.

Many of the interns also got infected during this time. So the

authors tried to get their perception during this quarantine does

they utilized it in learning something new but only 24% of

them were taken it positively

but 44% of them had not utilized

this period. The last question was based on their perception

of online internship as this batch of interns attended their

orientation program and first posting online. Only 21% of the

participants were in favor of online learning and 58% wanted

hand on experience. These result are similar to previous study

result where 53.0% of interns did not

prefer online learning

experience over hands on experience.

CONCLUSION

For the interns, internship is the bonus period where they can

refine their clinical skills. This pandemic affected each sector.

Definitely the internship of dental interns was also affected.

Due to the crisis patients were attending less in number for

getting their routine dental treatment done. So, the interns got

less exposure to patients. But, of course they got a different

experience while working in this pandemic situation. They

learnt how to handle the situation while working in the

pandemic situation.

LIMITATIONS

It was a questionnaire based study so the answers attempted

by the participants can be biased. Also the study population

was limited to a single institution thus; these results cannot be

generalized.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank all the study participants for

their participation. The authors would also like to give their

genuine thanks to Dr Surekha Rathod, Chairperson, Interns

Committee, VSPM’s Dental College & Research Centre,

Nagpur for sharing her inputs about the internship of this batch.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND

SPONSORSHIP

Nil

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

There are no conflicts of interest.

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