Abstract
BackgroundEstablishing a strong link early on between preclinical coursework and the clinical context is necessary for students to be able to recognize the practical relevance of the curriculum during their preclinical anatomical courses and to transfer knowledge more easily. Our objective was to enhance the clinical relevance of a preclinical anatomy course for second-year medical students of dentistry by implementing an interdisciplinary skills training course on “Palpation of the Head and Neck Muscles” and to measure the learning outcomes.MethodsFor the curricular development of the expanded course module, Kern’s 6-step approach was applied including subjective evaluation. We used a peer-teaching format supported by an e-learning application. A randomized control study measured effects of the two components (skills training, e-module) on learning outcomes. Four learning methods were compared: (1) lecture, (2) lecture + e-module, (3) lecture + skills training, (4) lecture + skills training + e-module. An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) was used to measure and compare learning outcomes.ResultsThe two-way variance analysis demonstrated that participation in the skills training had a statistically significant effect on the OSCE results (p = 0.0007). Students who participated in the skills training did better (φ 107.4 ± 14.4 points) than students who only attended the lecture (φ 88.8 ± 26.2 points). Students who used the e-module but did not attend the skills training earned a slightly but not significantly higher average number of points (φ 91.8 ± 31.3 points) than those who only attended the lecture. The learning outcomes of the skills training were again significantly increased when the training was combined with the e-module (φ 121.8 ± 21.8 points), thus making it the ideal method for achieving the learning objectives defined in this study.ConclusionsThe “Palpation of the Head and Neck Muscles” interdisciplinary skills training course linking basic anatomical knowledge and clinical skills led to clearly improved learning outcomes for both, anatomical knowledge and clinical skills. The additional use of an e-learning tool (e-module) improved the learning effect.
Highlights
Establishing a strong link early on between preclinical coursework and the clinical context is necessary for students to be able to recognize the practical relevance of the curriculum during their preclinical anatomical courses and to transfer knowledge more
Anatomy teaching in Germany and other countries is often not integrated into the clinical context at all or it is integrated to only a limited extent [2]
Effect of the skills training and added value of the e-module: objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) results All of the second-year students participated in the study (N = 53)
Summary
Establishing a strong link early on between preclinical coursework and the clinical context is necessary for students to be able to recognize the practical relevance of the curriculum during their preclinical anatomical courses and to transfer knowledge more . Knowledge of anatomy is highly relevant to dentistry; this is especially obvious when performing anesthesiological or surgical procedures and when using various examination methods. For this reason, a solid knowledge of anatomy is fundamental to the dentist’s daily work [1]. Students often have a hard time determining any practical relevance Later, when they begin treating patients in the clinical part of their studies, they must apply the anatomical knowledge they acquired during the preclinical courses. They often have difficulty calling up this basic knowledge [3]
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