RCT of the effects of block absence for outreach placements on dental students’ finals grades

Abstract

Undergraduate dental curricula are being supplemented with primary care placements requiring periods away from the dental school. These absences may impact negatively on students' other studies. To compare the effect of outreach placement and traditional hospital-based training alone on students' final examination scores. Existing primary care placements in northern England about one year from students' qualification. Analysis of secondary outcomes in a randomised controlled trial with students' final examination marks being compared on qualification. To reduce Type I error only 4 of 24 available scores were considered and multiple testing correction applied. Five-week block outreach placements for 25 of 49 students. Honours awarded and examination scores for children's dentistry, overall clinical work and theory. Groups' final exam scores were similar: children's dentistry - outreach 64.9 (SD 2.1), hospital-based 65.0 (3.0); overall clinical work 58.3 (3.4) cf 60.7 (4.8) and theory 54.6 (3.5) cf 56.5 (4.0). The numbers of students awarded honours (outreach 1, hospital 4) showed no significant difference (Fisher's exact text P = 0.19). Dental outreach training involving several weeks' absence from the school had no negative impact on students' finals scores.