Avaliação da percepção dos cirurgiões-dentistas usuários de um serviço de telediagnóstico em estomatologia durante a pandemia da COVID-19

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the perception of dentalsurgeons using a telediagnosis service in stomatology, developed by the State University of Montes Claros (Unimontes), during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study, carried out with public dental surgeons from the health macro-region North of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The region is one of the fourteen health macro-regions of the State Secretariat of Minas Gerais, with a population that depends almost exclusively on Primary Health Care (PHC) services. The sample size calculation was carried out based on the number of professionals registered in the National Registry of Health Establishments (CNES). Data collection took place through an online questionnaire, between the months of May and October 2022, made available to participants through the instant messaging application WhatsApp and by email. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) under opinion nº. 5,267,570. The variables used were: gender, changes in the workplace during the pandemic, diagnostic purpose of using teleconsultation, biggest problem faced in the work routine during the pandemic, teleconsulting method used, desire to use technology frequently, ease of use of the telediagnosis service, presence of problems and need for technical support, professional confidence in the use of technology and patient comfort and desire to continue using such technology after the pandemic. The information was transferred to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows®, Inc., USA (SPPS) version 24.0, where a database was built and absolute and relative frequencies were obtained. The final sample consisted of 255 dentists, the majority were female (n=191; 74.9%) and reported that during the quarantine there were changes in their respective workplaces (n=224; 87.8% ). Regarding the purpose of using teleservices, for diagnostic purposes, the main reasons were: monitoring patients (n=207; 57.8%); discussion of cases with other dentists (n=64; 17.9%) and evaluation of the possibility of in-person scheduling (n=87; 24.3%). Regarding the teleconsultation method used, 61.3% of professionals(n=209) used the telephone call and 38.7% (n=132) the WhatsApp application. Regarding use and intention to use, a significant percentage (n= 108; 47.8%) of respondents agreed that they would like to use telediagnosis frequently, more than half agreed that the technology is easy touse (n=137; 60.6%), only a small percentage needed some technical support to use it (n=20; 8.8%) and almost half mentioned the desire to continue using it after the pandemic (n=109; 48.2% ). However, when asked whether patients felt confident and comfortable when passing on information, more than half disagreed or remained neutral(n=132; 58.4%), a similar result was found regarding confidence in the application of the instrument by professionals. users (n=133; 58.8%). It is concluded that, during the pandemic, telediagnosis in stomatology was an easy and appropriate tool to use. However, professionals must be trained and prepared to be comfortable and ready to use.