Developing the teledentistry acceptance survey for dentists - TAS-D: a Delphi study.

INTRODUCTION: The increasing interest in teledentistry since the COVID-19 pandemic warrants an evaluation of dentists' willingness to adopt it. This study aimed to develop a questionnaire to assess dentist's intention to use teledentistry and the associated factors. METHODS: A literature search was used to identify items for the questionnaire. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) was adopted as framework. A Delphi panel was constituted of researchers with relevant publications and the International Association of Dental Research e-Oral Health Network members. Three Delphi consultations were conducted to establish consensus on items. Consensus was set at 80% agreement and content validity ratio (CVR), reaffirmed iteratively. RESULTS: Nineteen out of 25 (76%) invited experts participated in the first round, 17 in the second and 15 in the third. The preliminary questionnaire had 81 items in three sections, reduced to 66, 45 and 33 items in the first, second and third rounds. After revision, the final version comprised eight items assessing dentists' backgrounds in Sect. 1, seven items identifying teledentistry uses in Sect. 2, and 17 items assessing intention to use teledentistry and its determinants in seven dimensions in Sect. 3. The initial CVR was 0.45, which increased to 0.80 at the end of the third round. CONCLUSION: A survey tool was developed to assess the acceptance of teledentistry, and its determinants based on the UTAUT2 framework through consensus among teledentistry experts. The tool had excellent validity and needs further evaluation of its psychometric properties.

Therapy dogs in the emergency department.

INTRODUCTION: This study examined acceptance by staff and patients of a therapy dog (TD) in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: Immediately after TD visits to a University Hospital ED, all available ED staff, patients, and their visitors were invited to complete a survey. RESULTS: Of 125 "patient" and 105 staff responses, most were favorable. Ninety-three percent of patients and 95% of staff agreed that TDs should visit EDs; 87.8% of patients and 92% of staff approved of TDs for both adult and pediatric patients. Fewer than 5% of either patients or staff were afraid of the TDs. Fewer than 10% of patients and staff thought the TDs posed a sanitary risk or interfered with staff work. CONCLUSION: Both patients and staff approve of TDs in an ED. The benefits of animal-assisted therapy should be further explored in the ED setting.