Abstract

Akua B Konadu*, Merley A. Newman- Nartey, Kwabena G. Amoah and Tom A. Ndanu

The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and prevalence of career-associated medical conditions among Dental Surgeons, Dental Hygienists and Final year students at the University of Ghana Dental School. 55 volunteers were randomly selected for this study. They included 26 Dental Surgeons, Five (5) Dental Hygienists/Therapists and 20 final year dental student. A self-administered questionnaire was used to capture the data which was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. The age of the respondents ranged between twenty and sixty-six years. There was a high level of awareness (>90%) of the major career associated medical conditions. Human Immunosuppression Viral infection (HIV) was the commonest occupational medical condition known. Over 40.0% of the total respondents had had needle stick injury before and17.6% within the past 6 months. Sixty-five (65%) percent of the respondents had attended a workshop on the prevention of occupational hazards, while 75% of the respondents had no knowledge on the institutional policy on waste management. Although there was a high level of awareness of career associated medical conditions; the prevalence was still high which is indicative of poor practice and behavior towards preventive measures.