Improving the quality of clinical teaching in a restorative clinic using student feedback

Influence of a major pre-clinical programme restructure on undergraduate student fixed prosthodontics clinical unit completions

INTRODUCTION

Research is limited in measuring the effectiveness of pre-clinical programmes in preparing students for fixed prosthodontics clinical practice. The aim of this retrospectively study was to assess the influence of a major pre-clinical programme restructure on undergraduate student fixed prosthodontics clinical unit completions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The fixed prosthodontics treatment registers from 2011 to 2020 were reviewed, and units completed per student (UCS) and units completed per student per session (UCSS) were calculated in the years before (2011-2013) and after (2014-2020) a major pre-clinical programme restructure (PR). Data were summarised in Microsoft Excel software (version 2016), and Student's t-test and paired t-tests were performed to determine the significance of difference in UCS and UCSS in the years before and after the PR.

RESULTS

There was a significant difference in the UCS (p < .05) and UCSS (p < .01) in the years before and after the PR. The average UCS in the years before the PR was 2.20 units compared with 3.86 units after the PR, an increase of 75% per student. The average UCSS in the years before the PR was 0.15 units compared with 0.28 units after the PR, an increase of 87% per session.

CONCLUSION

The fixed prosthodontics pre-clinical programme restructure resulted in statistically significantly increased student clinical unit completions.

Assessing dental students' professional satisfaction with operative dentistry teaching and curriculum: A study in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Evaluating students' professional training satisfaction with operative dentistry teaching and curriculum can help identify their educational needs and improve the quality of the education imparted. This study aimed to assess the professional training satisfaction of senior undergraduate dental students in Saudi Arabia from the operative dentistry course teaching and its curriculum at different levels and among genders.A total of 193 (109 male, 56.48%; and 84 female, 43.52%) students participated in the survey. The respondents were at the 10th, 11th, and 12th levels of the Operative Dentistry course in a ratio of 34.2%, 32.1%, and 33.7%, respectively. Data were collected from survey items (18 questions) covering 6 areas: learning objectives, course materials, content relevance, instructor knowledge, instructor delivery and style, and facility and environment. Descriptive and analytical tests were performed using SPSS Software 19, with the significance level set at 0.05.A high level of satisfaction was seen among level 10 (68.18%), 11 (79.03%), and 12 (86.15%) students. A significant statistical difference was observed among level 10 students with a low level of satisfaction and a high level of satisfaction (P = .045). The percentage of satisfaction increased with the level. A high level of satisfaction was seen among male (78.90%) and female (76.19%) students, with a total satisfaction level of 77.72%.Continuous evaluation and assessment of teaching and curriculum can be a tool to improve the quality of education imparted, especially in clinical courses such as operative dentistry. This helps to prepare students for their professional life as healthcare providers. The role of teaching skills related to amalgam must be re-evaluated. It is recommended to include student representation and participation in course development committees, as they are the final recipients of the educational process.

Students' self-confidence and perceived quality of prosthodontics education: A study in the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the University of Porto

INTRODUCTION

Oral rehabilitation with removable dentures (RDs) is still a viable choice for the edentulous population. Fostering students' confidence in prosthodontic procedures should be a major concern in dental schools. This study has three purposes: (a) to measure the self-reported confidence levels of undergraduate dental students when performing removable prosthodontic treatments; (b) to evaluate the students' perceived quality of removable prosthodontics education; and (c) to assess the students' suggestions to improve removable prosthodontics education.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An anonymous questionnaire was delivered to third-, fourth- and fifth-year students of the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the University of Porto (FMDUP) (n = 176). Data from quantitative questions were statistically analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (V.24.0), whilst qualitative data were clustered into topics and analysed in Excel.

RESULTS

With a 100% response rate, most students felt "confident" and "very confident" in RD clinical procedures. Overall, the 5th-year students had higher confidence than 4th-year ones, except when surveying diagnostic casts. Our findings also revealed that students considered the removable prosthodontics education "Good" and "Very good," and their main suggestions were related to increasing the time allocated to clinical practice.

CONCLUSIONS

Students' confidence in carrying out removable prosthodontic procedures grew as they progressed through the course. Overall, the students' evaluation of the quality of prosthodontics education was positive, and their main suggestion to improve their confidence levels was increasing the clinical experience.

Development of an error-detection examination for conservative dentistry education

OBJECTIVE

For dental students, textbooks and lectures provide basic knowledge, and simulated and actual clinical training provide learning in technical and communication skills. At our college, conservative dentistry is taught in the third and fourth years of a 6-year undergraduate degree. Clinical training is undertaken subsequently in the fifth year and includes cavity preparation and composite resin filling tasks. However, despite the clinical importance of a full understanding surrounding these procedures, sixth-year students occasionally provide incorrect answers regarding these procedures in assessments. Although they demonstrated a basic understanding of the procedures, they may have forgotten the acquired knowledge during their clinical training. Therefore, we developed an error-detection examination to evaluate and improve fifth-year students' knowledge.

METHODS

Written detailed treatment procedures for standardized, typical, cases were presented to students. Some critical steps were intentionally written incorrectly, and students had to identify and correct these. After correcting the steps, students gave a presentation to their peers on their corrections. This was followed by a summary of the correct answers and a short lecture by the teacher. Students then completed a questionnaire investigating their experience of the examination.

RESULTS

Students misunderstood some key treatment steps, such as pretreatment of composite resin filling, amalgam removal, and ceramic inlay fitting. The questionnaire revealed that this method of testing applied knowledge was new to students and helped them to identify knowledge gaps. The test also increased their motivation to study conservative dentistry. Students were open to taking similar tests in different areas.

CONCLUSION

Although conservative dentistry is a basic field of dental treatment, mistakes in treatment can lead to early treatment failure or reduce the lifetime of a restored tooth. Therefore, students need to have a deep understanding of procedures. Error-detection examinations may help students identify knowledge gaps and provide useful feedback to teachers to identify areas that they should stress in earlier years.

Development and implementation of the Clinical Tooth Shade Differentiation Course--an evaluation over 3 years

OBJECTIVE

Tooth shade differentiation concerns the identification and classification of tooth shades. The objective of this project was to implement the Clinical Tooth Shade Differentiation Course in the preclinical stage of studies and to evaluate the students' perspective over a period of 3 years.

METHODOLOGY

The course is planned for a duration of 10 weeks with two 45-minute sessions per semester week. The entire attendance time was 10:15 h. 2 lectures of 90 minutes each, 2 seminars of 60 min each and 2 teaching units with the phantom head and role playing took place. In addition to the various parameters of tooth shade, changes in tooth shade and the basics of dental esthetics, clinical procedures for manual and digital tooth shade determination were explained and practiced. 96% (69 of 72) of the students participated in the first evaluation in 2012/2013 (T1), and 68% of these were women. In the following year, 2013/2014 (T2), 92% (45 of 48 students) took part; 62% of these were women and 38% men. The 2014/2015 evaluation (T3) comprised 94% (45 of 48 students). Of these, 67% were women.

RESULTS

In the evaluation, the students gave the course a positive grade. The questions in "General/Organization" were given a mean (M) of 1.5 (SD=0.7) in T1 and T2, and 1.2 (SD=0.3) in T3. The "Overall Assessment" yielded M(T1)=1.6 (SD=0.6), M(T2)=1.5 (SD=0.5) and M(T3)=1.1 (SD=0.3). In T1 and T2, the item "The instructor actively involved the students in the course" was given a mean of 2.1 (SD=0.9), and in T3 a mean of 1.2 (SD=0.5).

CONCLUSIONS

The course presented here conceptually shows how practical dental skills can be taught in a theoretical and clinical context. Educational objectives from the role of a dental expert were taken from the national competence-based catalog of educational objectives for dentistry and can also be supplemented. The objectives can be transferred to other dental faculties.

The importance of 'student voice' in dental education

Although much published school and higher education research have established a strong conceptual foundation for eliciting student feedback, this element is relatively poorly developed in dental education research. This paper examines 'student voice' as a conceptual/theoretical framework and justification for attending to students' perspectives in dental education. The aims of this review paper were: to explore the concept of student voice, including some pragmatic considerations and key critiques of listening to student feedback; to critically analyse key debates about the importance of a research focus on student perceptions using themes from the seminal and contemporary educational literature on student voice from the school, higher and dental educational sectors; to identify gaps in the dental education literature in relation to students' perceptions of their learning, and highlight some practical implications drawn from the 'student voice' literature for dental education; and to assist dental educational researchers in developing a strong rationale for listening to student voice in dental educational institutions. This paper is intended to assist dental educational researchers in justifying future research projects which require eliciting dental student feedback/perceptions.

A national survey of UK final year students' opinion of undergraduate oral surgery teaching

BACKGROUND

A national survey was undertaken to establish a baseline of our final year students' perception of how their undergraduate oral surgery education has equipped them for key areas of general dental practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Questionnaires were distributed to the 13 UK schools with final year students, towards the end of the academic year in 2009. The questionnaires were completed anonymously and were optically scanned.

RESULTS

In total, 632 questionnaires were returned, which represents 66% of the students of the graduating year. The majority (83%) of the respondents perceived that the teaching in oral surgery had given them sufficient knowledge to undertake independent practise. Most respondents (99%) felt confident to perform forceps exodontia, but confidence in the various aspects of surgical exodontia was lower. A majority (83%) had experience of an outreach scheme performing forceps exodontia (75%) and surgical exodontia (16%) in this environment. Twenty per cent indicated a desire to undertake a career in oral surgery, 6% in oral and maxillofacial surgery and 35% in another speciality.

CONCLUSION

This survey suggests that the majority of the students perceive that the oral surgery education has prepared them well for key areas of general practice. It also suggests that there is, however, a need to provide further improvement in the delivery of surgical skills and knowledge.

Clinical teaching in restorative dentistry and the variation between students' and supervisors' perceptions of its effectiveness

OBJECTIVES

To investigate if there was an agreement between the students and supervisors on the quality of clinical teaching in Restorative Dentistry in the Dublin Dental School and Hospital and to identify differences on how effective clinical teaching is perceived between three academic years. In addition it aimed to identify the existence of any similarities between students' and supervisors' perceptions of specific teaching behaviours that are most and least helpful in learning.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An anonymous questionnaire based on the above objectives was distributed to three cohorts of undergraduate students and three cohorts of clinical supervisors. The response rate was 94% for the first, 94% for the second and 63% for the third student cohort. Twenty-one (21) out of the 36 supervisors returned the questionnaire. Basic analysis of the clinical questionnaire was carried out in order to find the distributions of the variables between the groups. These distributions were compared using a non-parametric analysis (Kruskal-Wallis). The degree of association was measured by the Pearson's chi-square values.

RESULTS

Students from all 3 years reported to be neither very satisfied nor very dissatisfied with their clinical teaching with a few statistically significant differences across the 3 years. The supervisors on the other hand, replied with a great deal of similarity across the 3 years. Furthermore, supervisors gave a high degree of straight line responses and generally felt very good about the level of clinical teaching. There was a high degree of variability in what the supervisors thought was important but also a high degree of similarity in what they thought was not helpful. It was exactly the opposite for the students.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a limited agreement between students and staff on the effectiveness of clinical teaching and the way effectiveness is perceived between students and clinical supervisors as well as between senior and more junior students. Overall though students and supervisors rated the clinical teaching favourably but indicated several areas of concern.

Effect of directorial intervention on web-based student feedback

The Medical Faculty of the University of Helsinki decided to employ a web-based evaluation system as an integral and essential part of all courses beginning in the autumn term of 2006.

OBJECTIVES

To analyse the effects of the intervention on dental students' web-based responses at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A previously developed web-based tool was used for all preclinical and clinical courses from the beginning of the 2006-2007 academic year. We analysed data sets of student feedback for all courses before (2005-2006) and after (2006-2007) the intervention. We then compared the quantity and quality of the students' feedback for the six standardised questions used in the evaluation, and calculated the means and standard deviations of values obtained with a Likert scale. The students' assessments in the open questions were categorised according to key issues.

RESULTS

Implementation of the system resulted in a considerable increase in student feedback: the mean response rate for the preclinical phase rose from 59% (SD 15.0; range 25-80) before the intervention to 90% (SD 9.6; range 72-100) after it. In the clinical phase, the response rates more than doubled from 34% (SD 15.9; range 9-69) to 73% (SD 12.9; range 45-100). The students' assessments showed no significant change despite the marked rise in response rates. The educators' positive attitude towards the students was appreciated (4.2-4.3) whereas the general goals for the courses in the clinical phase seemed unclear to the students (3.4) (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Web-based evaluation as an integral part of all courses in the dental curriculum proved successful: shortly after the intervention, we observed a considerable increase in student feedback with no significant change in quality.