Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine circumstances under which student clinician injuries occur at the Dalhousie University Dental Clinic. Necessary policies and procedures may then be recommended and implemented to decrease the frequency of such occurrences. Methods: This study reviewed student injury reports collected from 1999-2013. Data collated included: student gender, program of study, instrument causing injury, location of injury, year, month, day, and time. Chi-square analysis was used to examine effects of gender, program of study, month, day and time. Partial correlation was used to examine trends in injury rates over time. Results: The mean number of injuries per academic year was 13.7 ± 1.8 (mean ± SE), (range 1 - 25). The annual injury rate rose over the 13-year period (partial correlation r = 0.709, df = 9, p = 0.015). The most common instruments causing injury were needles (23.5%), burs (16%), scalers (15.5%) and lab knives (15%). The most common body part injured was the finger (45.5%), followed by the thumb (31%) and the hand (15%). Injuries were more likely to occur at the end of clinic session than at the beginning (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.39-2.60). There were no statistically significant effects of gender, academic program, and time of day, day of the week or month of the year on injury rate. Conclusion: The analysis of the data may be used to assess and improve the effectiveness of safety protocols, and increase the safety of student clinicians by decreasing the occurrence of percutaneous injuries.

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