Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Dentist, Expert of Supervision and Evaluation of Treatment Affairs, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

2 Expert of Supervision and Evaluation of Treatment Affairs, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Statement of Problem: One of the main components of health care evaluation is undertaking of infection control standards in accordance to the newest scientific findings. Lack of information about diseases affects the behavior toward infected people and reduces using of standards. So continous education to use standards and their supervision are necessary and important.Purpose: The objective of the present research was to determine the effect of education on using the standards and attitudes toward infection control standards in dental offices in Shiraz. Materials and Method: To conduct the study, 280 offices (general and specialist) were divided into four groups according to Solomon four groups design. The research had two stages. At the first stage, the first group received education with questionnaire simultaneously. The second group received no education while the third group received only education without questionnaire. The fourth group did not have the first stage. At the second stage with a monthly interval, all the groups received the same questionnaire to determine the differences.Results: Among the offices, 37% had autoclaves. The use of gloves (96.5%) protective eye wear (91%) and masks (%99.3) were reported by the dentists. 97.2% of dentists and 70.9% of nurses were immunized against hepatitis B. 60.8% of offices discarded the used dental needles correctly. 97.4% of offices disinfected the surfaces after treatment of each patient, 57.9% of dentists used sterile ultrasonic scalar and 28% used sterile hand pieces for each patient.Conclusion: Dentists compliance with recommended infection control standards were increased by education, therefore further and continous education is needed.Key words: Dental offices, Infection control standards, Education, Precaution of standards