EVALUATION OF HOUSE OFFICERS CONFIDENCE LEVEL IN PERFORMING ENDODONTIC TREATMENT

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the confidence level of house officers in performing root canal treatment. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Rawal Institute of Health Sciences and Islamic International Dental Hospital from june 2017 to January 2018. An anonymous questionnaire was distributed among house officers of both hospitals. The questionnaire utilized scaled response to determine the level of confidence while performing various steps of root canal treatment. The level of confidence was categorized using 5-point Likerts scale as 1=not at all confident, 2=not very confident, 3=neutral, 4=confident and 5=very confident. Data were entered and analyzed in SPSS version 17.0. Counts and percentages were measured for various parameters of respondents confidence level. Chisquare test was used to compare confidence level between the two genders and also between the two institutes. Majority of house officers were not confident in placement of rubber dam (44%), working length determination using apex locator (36%) and management of flare-ups (40%). Male gender was found more confident than female regarding various steps of root canal procedure. House officers of Rawal institute of health sciences were more confident in some steps of root canal than house officers of Islamic international dental hospital. Overall it was concluded that though house officers were confident in performing root canal, however, they were found to have low confidence in performing difficult steps like rubber dam application, use of electronic apex locator and management of flare-ups.