Impacto da pandemia de COVID-19 no ensino odontológico dos cursos de graduação das instituições públicas no Brasil

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the protocols and guidelines for patient care in the area of Dentistry, since the outpatient environment is at high risk of contamination. From the point of view of higher education in dentistry, the long-term impacts are still unknown. This research evaluated the impact and the working strategies that the official public and free undergraduate courses in Dentistry in Brazil adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is a subproject designed as a descriptive observational cross-sectional survey (CAAE n°: 31939920.7.0000.5418). The survey of the courses was carried out by the public website of the E-MEC system in May 2020. The course coordinators were contacted via e-mail and invited to answer an online survey consisting in eight questions, based on the domains: suspension of academic activities, activities maintained, teaching alternatives offered and planning for post-pandemic changes. The data from the survey responses were analyzed by descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequency) and analytical (C contingency correlation test). Responses were received during May and June 2020. The response rate for public courses was 100% (n = 57). Most of the courses (62%) suspended all academic activities, and a small portion maintained only emergency care. The minority of courses suspended only practical activities and maintained theoretical ones remotely (38%), using virtual tools such as Google Meet or others. Most part of the courses (50%) are enabling discussions to guarantee the graduation of finalist students, and those who continued with some activity were adapting alternative means of attending and evaluating the students. Planning to return to classes mainly involves planning for the gradual return of activities with distance protocols (78%) and review of biosafety protocols for clinical care (87%) and long-term reforms and adaptations in outpatient clinics (75%). There was no correlation between the variable “geographic location” (C coef. = 0.263; p =1.00); or performance at ENADE (C coef. = 0.397; p = 0.53); with the course's functioning or not during the pandemic or with the type of planning that the courses had for the resumption of practical activities in the region (C coef. = 0.231; p = 1.00); or ENADE results (C coef. = 0.326; p = 0.96). The pandemic had a direct impact on the functioning of Brazilian Dentistry courses, causing the total paralysis of practical activities, and the migration of theoretical activities to virtual rooms.