Clinical Evaluation of the Working Positions Adopted by Undergraduate Dental Students in the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic

RESUMO Objective: To evaluate the postures and working positions adopted by undergraduate dental students in 360 clinical procedures in pediatric dentistry, and to assess their association with the children's behavior and the type of the procedure performed. Methods: Digital photographs were taken with a Canon PowerShot G5 camera. The posture and working position of both the operator and the assistant were considered for analysis. For each clinical procedure, 5 photographs were taken by a single researcher at a minimal distance of 1 m. Afterwards, the photographs were examined by a duly calibrated Ergonomics professor (Kappa statistics, k=0.92) using a PC in a place far from the clinic. The collected data were entered in an Excel databank. For analysis of the postures and working positions adopted by the students while performing pediatric dentistry clinical procedures, description statistics was first undertaken, with emphasis on frequency distribution (absolute and relative). Next, chi-square test was performed at 5% significance level, allocating the patients according to their behavior (good or bad) and the type of procedure (non- invasive and invasive). This test was performed using BioEstat 3.0 software. Results: There was a non-significant association between the children's behavior or type of procedure and the working position adopted by the students during clinical treatment. Conclusion: The inappropriate working positions observed in the study were not related to the difficulties imposed by the dental treatment of pediatric patients, but rather to the bad postural habits acquired by the students during the clinical activities. Objetivo: Verificar, as posturas e posicoes de trabalho adotadas por graduandos em 360 procedimentos clinicos odontopediatricos e investigar a associacao destas com o comportamento das criancas e com o tipo de procedimento realizado. Metodologia: Foram realizadas tomadas fotograficas digitais, utilizando-se da câmera digital Canon - PowerShot G5. Tanto a postura e posicao do operador quanto a do auxiliar foram consideradas. Para cada procedimento clinico foram tiradas cinco fotografias, pelo mesmo pesquisador a uma distância minima de 1 metro. Apos a obtencao das fotos, estas foram avaliadas por um professor de ergonomia, devidamente calibrado (Estatistica Kappa, k=0,92) em ambiente afastado da clinica, em um microcomputador. Os dados obtidos foram inseridos num banco de dados no Programa Excel. Para a analise das posturas e posicoes de trabalho adotadas durante a realizacao dos procedimentos odontologicos em Odontopediatria realizou-se primeiramente estatistica descritiva, enfatizando a distribuicao de frequencias (absoluta e relativa). Em seguida utilizou-se o teste de qui-quadrado, com nivel de significância de 5% agrupando os pacientes segundo seu comportamento (bom ou ruim) e tipo de procedimento (nao-invasivo e invasivo). Este teste foi realizado com o auxilio do programa BioEstat 3.0. Resultados: Verificou-se associacao nao-significativa entre o comportamento da crianca ou o tipo de procedimento com a postura de trabalho adotada pelos alunos para o atendimento clinico. Conclusao: As inadequacoes observadas com relacao a postura de trabalho nao estiveram relacionadas as dificuldades impostas pelo tratamento dos pacientes odontopediatricos, mas aos vicios posturais adquiridos pelos alunos no decorrer de suas atividades