Dental Undergraduate Programme Research Articles

Relationship between academic procrastination and self-efficacy amongst dental undergraduate students at a public university in Karachi, Pakistan.

To compare the procrastination and self-efficacy scores among students with respect to the academic year of dental undergraduate programme, and to assess the relationship between self-efficacy and academic procrastination among the students. The descriptive study was conducted at Sindh Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, from January to March 2023, and comprised medical students of either gender from all the 4 academic years. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire whose validity was assessed using a pilot study. Data was analysed using SPSS 18. Of the 136 students, 84(61.8%) were females and 52(38.2%) were males. There were 34(25%) students from the 1st year, 32(23.5%) from 2nd year, 38(28%) from the 3rd year, and 32(23.5%) from the final year. The highest mean score for procrastination was from 3rd year students 67.7±12.8, while the highest mean score for self-efficacy was from 1st year students 30.2±4. There was no significant difference in terms of gender (p>0.05). Procrastination scores had a significant association with the academic year (p=0.016). Procrastination scores were high among the dental students with the highest score from 3rd year students. The academic environment should provide support help the students devise strategies to optimally utilise the available time.

Attitude and perceptions regarding online teaching in dental undergraduate program during COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed method study.

Transformation of education to virtual mode during COVID-19 pandemic was a major challenge for a clinical specialty like dentistry. A sequential explanatory mixed method was adopted with quantitative dominant design. A self-reported questionnaire on attitude and perceptions toward online learning were distributed among dental undergraduate students. The qualitative arm explored perceptions of online teaching among various stakeholders and thematic content analysis was performed. A total of 141 responses were obtained, about 21% of them felt online classes to be highly useful and 78% felt it was moderately useful. About 80% of the students were satisfied with the online education. About 40% of participants felt internet connectivity was a frequent issue. The qualitative data analysis revealed five emergent themes of lecture content and delivery, instructional control, resource management, interaction, and evaluation exploring the perceptions of various stakeholders toward online learning and provided several insights. Though online education cannot be compared to traditional education in a clinical specialty like dentistry, it does have its advantages and a portion of student learning can be conducted through this mode.

A qualitative analysis of students' perceptions of videos to support learning in a psychomotor skills course.

This qualitative study analysed students' experiences and perceptions about different types of videos in a psychomotor skills course, relating to clinical knowledge and skills and how they benefited learners in and out of the classroom. Subjects were recruited from 4th and 5th year dental undergraduate programme. The recruitment was terminated after 24 students participated since data saturation was reached. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each participating student, digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was performed using an inductive approach to identify key themes. Four key domains were identified from thematic analysis: functionality and access; learning and understanding; clinical skills preparation and performance and supplementary learning resources. Students perceived videos to be an important and vital learning tool relating to its on-demand access, control of functionality and use for particular needs that is not possible from textbooks or lectures. Video learning materials allows students to clarify knowledge, improve cognitive thinking and enhance revision of theoretical concepts and clinical skills. Two types of video were regarded as particularly useful as students reported being actively and cognitively engaged in the learning content and broadened their clinical experience. In addition, students reported mental preparation of clinical psychomotor skills using their own mental visualisation which enabled them to prepare for the clinical care of their patients. This qualitative research supports the benefits of learning from videos in relation to convenience of access and functionality of the videos. In addition, it shows novel aspects to learning from videos that are more cognitively engaging and in mental preparation of clinical skills prior to patient care.

Final Year Dental Students’ Perception of Knowledge, Training and Competence in Medical Emergency Management

OBJECTIVE: The potential for a medical emergency to occur during dental treatment must be met by dental practitioners who are competent to manage such situations. However the literature shows that not all dentists have received training in this area, and of those who have, many are deficient in knowledge, skills and confidence. The objective of this study was to examine the perceptions of final year Jordanian dental students regarding their education and preparedness to manage medical emergencies.METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional, descriptive study which gathered questionnaire data from an undergraduate student cohort at two Jordanian universities. Descriptive analysis of the data was undertaken, and a Chi-squared test was used to explore the relationships between participants’ responses and the variables of gender and previous attendance at any ME workshop. Statistical significance was deemed at p<.05.RESULTS: Three hundred and seventy dental students responded to the questionnaire with response rates of 76.2% and 81.8% from the two sites. The results indicate that not all of the students had received training in medical emergency management, and their self-reported proficiency and experience was sub-optimal. However, participating in a workshop on managing medical emergencies was associated with changes in some skills and experiences.CONCLUSION: The low levels of medical emergency management knowledge and skills in the final year dental students reflects the situation reported in existing literature. This study indicates the importance of effective medical emergency management training within the dental undergraduate program, and may be used to inform future curricula planning.

Knowledge and awareness of basic life support among interns of a dental college in Mangalore, India

Aim: To evaluate the knowledge and awareness of Basic life support among the interns in a dental institution in Mangalore, India. Objective: To evaluate the knowledge and awareness of Basic Life support among the interns of a dental institution in Mangalore, India. Material and Method: A cross sectional questionnaire study was conducted in a DCI (Dental Council of India) recognized college in Mangalore, India. The data was collected using questionnaire method regarding the awareness and knowledge of Basic Life support among the interns of a dental institution in Mangalore, India. Data Collection: Questionnaires were introduced to the participants regarding the awareness and knowledge of basic life support after obtaining the informed consent.82 questionnaires were distributed to the Interns of a dental college for this study. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics were tabulated. Chi-square tests were applied for this study. Results: According to the results of this study, 86.6% of the interns had attended a training program in BLS. 100% of the interns responded that BLS training should be a compulsory part of the dental curriculum. 95.1% of the interns gave the correct response to a question on airway obstruction. Only 47.6% of the interns were able to discuss the right sequence for of administration of the maneuvers for BLS. Only 25.6% interns were able to discuss the right answer on checking the pulse for not more than 5 seconds. 78% of the interns were able to give the correct answer for the most appropriate rate of CPR for an adult. Conclusion: According to the results of this study the awareness of the interns regarding BLS was high but the knowledge levels was low. This reinforces the fact that BLS training should be made a mandatory part of the dental undergraduate program to better enable the dental graduates handle Medical emergencies that may occur in the dental clinics.

The University of Saskatchewan's Aboriginal Equity Access Program in Dentistry

Persons of Aboriginal ancestry are underrepresented in the dental profession in North America. In Canada, the University of Saskatchewan College of Dentistry began a proactive program to recruit, retain, and graduate more Aboriginal students in 1996. This program, entitled the Aboriginal Equity Access Program, has seen the inclusion of twenty-two Aboriginal students in the predoctoral program. This article describes the program and reports on the success of the students enrolled via this route. The primary conclusion is that selection of Aboriginal dental students with lower entry scores--who would not have gained entry if the program did not exist--has not impaired their ability to successfully complete the dental undergraduate program and pass the National Dental Examining Board licensure examination.

Knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS: a survey among dental students in Ajman, UAE

Encounters between dentists and patients with HIV/AIDS are bound to rise due to increased prevalence and emerging new treatments. This study assessed dental students' knowledge about transmission and oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS, and their attitudes towards patients regarding obligations to treat. Out of 109 students in 4years of a 6-year dental undergraduate program, 106 responded to a questionnaire on knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Knowledge and attitude scores were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis one-way anova and the gender differences with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The median score for students' overall knowledge was 39.5 (67%; maximum possible 59). The median knowledge scores for males and females were 38 and 40 respectively, although the difference was not statistically significant. The knowledge levels in Year 4 (42.5±4.7), Year 3 (44±6.5), and Year 2 (42±5.8), were similar but significantly higher than in Year 1 (33±7.9; P<0.01). The median attitude score was 14 out of 24, with no significant differences within genders and years of study. Although the level of knowledge of the senior students was higher than that of the first years, the negative attitudes remained largely unchanged. Appropriate educational programs may alter the misconceptions and the negative attitudes.

Effect of Community‐Based Clinical Teaching Programs on Student Confidence: A View from the United Kingdom

Over the past few years, community-based clinical teaching programs have become established within many dental schools in the United Kingdom. One such primary care teaching unit was developed to support the dental undergraduate program at Cardiff University in 2002. Students visit this unit throughout their five-year dental school training-as assistants/observers initially, but gaining about twenty-eight days of clinical operating experience each within the unit during their final year of studies. The aim of this article is to report the effect of this teaching program on the confidence of students to perform a range of clinical treatments. The final-year dental class of 2007-08 (n=55) at Cardiff University were asked to rate their confidence in their ability to perform thirty-six selected clinical tasks on a five-point scale prior to commencing their clinical operating experience at the community-based clinical teaching program and again at completion of the one-year program. Completed responses were received from forty-seven students (response rate=85 percent). The same students completed the initial and the final surveys. After one year, there were significant increases (p<0.05) in student confidence in performing thirty of the thirty-six selected clinical tasks. The largest positive change was in the area of endodontics: on a five-point scale, there was an increase of one unit for incisor/canine endodontics, 1.04 units for premolar endodontics, and 1.17 units for molar endodontics. These increases were statistically significant (p<0.05). The next largest positive change was for the provision of bridgework: 0.98 unit increase in confidence for providing conventional bridgework (p<0.05) and 0.91 unit increase for resin-retained bridgework (p<0.05). We conclude that clinical experience within a community-based clinical teaching program can have positive effects on dental students' confidence to perform a wide range of clinical tasks. Further work is needed to identify the benefits of this training on the clinical and professional development of young and recently graduated dentists.

The first UK dental undergraduate programme for medical graduates – a student perspective

The nature of the primary dental undergraduate qualification is continually evolving to keep pace with the ever changing climate of medical and dental education and postgraduate speciality training. In the aftermath of "Modernising Medical Careers", there has been a surge in interest in careers of dental origin by members of the medical profession, particularly in the specialities of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS), oral medicine and oral surgery. Furthermore, following the suggestion by the recent Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) report into OMFS training that both registrable medical and dental degrees be obtainable by the age of 26 much attention has focussed on the entity of the accelerated undergraduate dental qualification. In this article we report our personal and educational experiences one year after enrolling in the UK's first official dental undergraduate degree for medical graduates, an accelerated three year BDS programme provided by King's College London.

The attitudes of undergraduate students and staff to the use of electronic learning.

Computer-aided learning (CAL) offers advantages over traditional methods of learning as it allows students to work in their own time and pace. The School of Dentistry at the University of Birmingham has created an electronic learning website, named the Ecourse. This is designed to be a web-based supplement to the dental undergraduate curriculum. The aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of third year dental students and members of staff about the Ecourse website. A questionnaire was produced and piloted before being distributed to all 65 third year dental students to obtain their opinions about the Ecourse website. The views of Ecourse were sought from four members of staff by performing qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Lecture handouts and textbooks were reported as the sources used most often, by 96% of students. Eighty-six per cent of students are accessing the Ecourse mainly at the School of Dentistry, but 53% are also accessing it at home. Students liked the multiple-choice questions, downloading extra notes and looking at pictures and animation to explain clinical procedures. The majority of the students (79%) want the Ecourse to be used as a supplement to the undergraduate programme and 7% wanted it to replace formal lectures. Staff recognised the benefits of the Ecourse but were concerned about plagiarism, the effect on lecture attendance and the lack of feedback from students on existing CAL material. Students consider the Ecourse as a positive method of supplementing traditional methods of learning in the dental undergraduate programme. However in contrast teaching staff expressed negative views on the use of e-learning.

Interdisciplinary, Web‐Based, Self‐Study, Interactive Programs in the Dental Undergraduate Program: A Pilot

The goal of this project was to encourage interdisciplinary, integrative health teaching and research in dental education through the development of web-accessible programs, collectively called the "StudyWeb." The specific objective of the project was the construction and integration of a series of prototypes of self-study modules. Four pilot modules were developed using existing teaching materials in histology, pharmacology, prosthodontics, and oral radiology and utilizing a variety of widely available software programs, including FrontPage and Photoshop. Low-end technological choices were made in order to facilitate compatibility with a wide range of hardware, software, and types of Internet access. Modules were tested for functionality, usability, and ease of navigation. The scope of the initial project was limited to development and functionality testing of the original modules. The next phase of this project will involve testing of the effectiveness of these web-based self-instruction tools.

The Baltic dental programme at the Faculty of Dentistry of The Karolinska Institute: first evaluation.

In 1992, The Faculty of Dentistry of The Karolinska Institute (KI) introduced a dental undergraduate programme specifically for Baltic students. Initiative for this programme came from both the Ministries of Health in Estonia and Latvia and a Member's Bill in the Swedish Committee for Foreign Affairs. The first 10 students were admitted in January 1992, and in 1994, a further 8 students were accepted. The main objective is to train Baltic students according to the Scandinavian model of dental education, in order to facilitate a positive development in dentistry in these countries. Candidates for the programme, dental students in Latvia or Estonia who had completed several preclinical years, were interviewed and tested in their home countries by a Swedish Admissions Committee. The curriculum comprises 7 semesters at the School of Dentistry, and includes complementary courses in basic science, preventive dentistry, and theoretical and practical courses in all fields of clinical dentistry. The students work with increasing independence, treating patients with a great variety of oral diseases and from different age groups. A course in Informatics is central and forms a base for a research-based assignment in collaboration with the respective home universities. The Baltic Programme is the first time KI has designed and implemented a specially tailored dental undergraduate curriculum in English for a selected group of foreign undergraduates. The students have proved to be ambitious and industrious, with very high academic standards. Their results in the written examinations were equal to or better than those of the home students. Of the 9 students who to date have completed the course, all are working as dentists in their respective countries and 6 are associated with their university.