Browsing by Subject "dental education"
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Item Analyzing Medication Documentation in Electronic Health Records: Dental Students’ Self-Reported Behaviors and Charting Practices(ADEA, 2019-06) Burcham, Wesley K.; Romito, Laura M.; Moser, Elizabeth A.; Gitter, Bruce D.; Biomedical Sciences and Comprehensive Care, School of DentistryThe aim of this two-part study was to assess third- and fourth-year dental students’ perceptions, self-reported behaviors, and actual charting practices regarding medication documentation in axiUm, the electronic health record (EHR) system. In part one of the study, in fall 2015, all 125 third- and 85 fourth-year dental students at one U.S. dental school were invited to complete a ten-item anonymous survey on medication history-taking. In part two of the study, the EHRs of 519 recent dental school patients were randomly chosen via axiUm query based on age >21 years and the presence of at least one documented medication. Documentation completeness was assessed per EHR and each medication based on proper medication name, classification, dose/frequency, indication, potential oral effects, and correct medication spelling. Consistency was evaluated by identifying the presence/absence of a medical reason for each medication. The survey response rate was 90.6% (N=187). In total, 64.5% of responding students reported that taking a complete medication history is important and useful in enhancing pharmacology knowledge; 90.4% perceived it helped improve their understanding of patients’ medical conditions. The fourth-year students were more likely than the third-year students to value the latter (p=0.0236). Overall, 48.6% reported reviewing patient medications with clinic faculty 76-100% of the time. The respondents’ most frequently cited perceived barriers to medication documentation were patients’ not knowing their medications (68.5%) and, to a much lesser degree, axiUm limitations (14%). Proper medication name was most often recorded (93.6%), and potential oral effects were recorded the least (3.0%). Medication/medical condition consistency was 70.6%. In this study, most of the students perceived patient medication documentation as important; however, many did not appreciate the importance of all elements of a complete medication history, and complete medication documentation was low.Item Are new dentists prepared for clinical practice? A survey of the clinical abilities of new dental graduates in the U.S. military(2024) Chiodo, Kathleen; Cook, N. Blaine; Capin, Oriana; Diefenderfer, Kim; Adcook, RichardObjective: This study aimed to identify new dentists’ competence in preventive and restorative procedures, as self-assessed by the new dentists and evaluated by their clinical supervisors. Justification: Preventive and restorative dental procedures constitute the majority of treatment provided daily in a general dentistry practice. Exploring new dentist proficiency in these foundational skills within one year of dental school graduation provides crucial information regarding the knowledge and skills new dentists attain during dental school. The military dental system is structured so that all new dentists receive close clinical oversight during their first year following graduation. Hypotheses: (1) The majority of dentists who have graduated less than one year prior to this survey will self-assess their skills in basic preventive and restorative dental procedures as “competent” or higher. (2) The majority of supervisor evaluations of new dentists will also average a level of “competent” or higher. (3) New dentists will self-assess their competence levels higher than their supervisors will evaluate them. Methods: An electronic, anonymous Qualtrics survey was sent to U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy new dentists and their clinical supervisors November 2022. Using a modified-Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, new dentists completed a self-assessment of 20 preventive and restorative procedures. Their clinical supervisors also completed a survey evaluating the proficiency level of the new dentists they oversaw. Results: 60 new dentists and 25 supervisors, accounting for 151 new dentists, responded. The proportion of competence ratings at a level of “competent” or higher (“proficient,” “expert”) was estimated, along with a 95% confidence interval, and one-sample chi-square tests were used to compare the proportion against 50%. Supervisors’ ratings of the new dentists’ skill levels were significantly lower than the new dentists’ ratings for 19 of the 20 dental procedures. Supervisors’ ratings of competent or higher were significantly greater than 50% in caries diagnosis and treatment planning, caries risk assessment, Class III anterior composite resins and posterior composite resins. Overall, supervisors rated 71.3% of new dentists at Novice or Beginner skill level. Conclusion: Supervisor ratings of the new dentists’ skill levels were significantly lower than the dentists’ ratings for the majority of procedures. New dentists and supervisors significantly disagreed on new dentists’ skill levels in the treatment of class I and II amalgams, endodontically treated teeth without a post, and crown preparation and delivery. Overall, 28.7% of new dentists were evaluated as competent in preventive and restorative procedures during their first year following dental school graduation.Item Assessing Effectiveness of an Audiovisual Educational Tool for Improving Dental Students' Probing Depth Consistency(Wiley, 2019-04) Prabhu, Srividya; John, Vanchit; Blanchard, Steven; Eckert, George J.; Hamada, Yusuke; Periodontology, School of DentistryDental students often underestimate their probing depth (PD) measurements, which emphasizes the need for effective and novel methods for teaching proper probing technique. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of audiovisual learning aids, recorded from the point of view of examiners, for improvement in PD agreement in dental students. In 2017‐18, 22 third‐year dental students were randomized into test and control groups. Each student and a single blinded faculty examiner performed PD measurements on a minimum of three patients. The test group viewed a video demonstrating proper probing technique, while the control group received only probing technique instruction from prior lectures. All measurements, the periodontal diagnoses, and the total time taken to complete PD measurements were recorded. A survey of student attitudes about the audiovisual tool was conducted after the intervention; all 22 students completed the survey. A total of 11,426 PD sites were measured. The test group had 10% greater accuracy in PD sites=4 mm. The control group had a minor but statistically significant increase in accuracy for 2 mm PD sites. For all incorrect measurements at sites PD≥4, the students tended to underestimate the PD. Tooth type, site location around tooth, and diagnosis had no significant effect on PD measurement agreement. No significant difference between groups was found for the proportions of gingivitis and periodontitis patients or for examination time. This study found that use of the audiovisual learning aid “Calibrated Periodontal Training Video” improved the students' probing depth accuracy for sites with PD of 4 mm.Item Assessing the Medical Emergency Preparedness of Dental Faculty, Residents, and Practicing Periodontists: An Exploratory Study(ADEA, 2018-05) de Bedout, Tatiana; Kramer, Kyle; Blanchard, Steven; Hamada, Yusuke; Eckert, George J.; Maupome, Gerardo; John, Vanchit; Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry, School of DentistryWith the increased number of elderly and medically compromised individuals receiving dental care and the presence of systemic comorbidities and associated treatment modalities in this patient population, it is imperative that dentists be prepared to manage a variety of medical emergencies. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of and preparedness to manage common medical emergencies of cohorts of practicing periodontists, specialty residents, and faculty members, both for comparative purposes and as an aid to refining a dental school’s standardized case scenarios. The study, conducted in 2017, was designed for four groups of randomly selected participants with at least 20 in each group; the actual number of voluntary participants was 28 private practice periodontists, 22 residents in specialty programs, 21 specialist faculty members, and 24 general practice faculty members. Participants were asked to evaluate ten clinical emergency cases and identify the diagnosis and indicated intervention for each. Groups were also evaluated for differences among correct responses for each case. Overall, there were no statistically significant differences for number of correct diagnoses or interventions among the four groups. However, several cases had varying degrees of incorrect diagnoses and management across all groups. Participants who had recently graduated or were still in school were able to treat cases appropriately more often than the other participants. Further refinement of cases to assess provider preparedness to correctly diagnose and manage medical emergencies is needed, specifically establishing case-specific features and addressing areas of potential confusion before the cases are used for educational purposes.Item Assessment of the Calibration of Periodontal Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Among Dental Students at Three Dental Schools(American Dental Education Association, 2015-01) Lane, Brittany A.; Luepke, Paul; Chaves, Eros; Maupome, Gerardo; Eckert, George J.; Blanchard, Steven; John, Vanchit; Department of Periodontics and Allied Dental Programs, IU School of DentistryCalibration in diagnosis and treatment planning is difficult to achieve due to variations that exist in clinical interpretation. To determine if dental faculty members are consistent in teaching how to diagnose and treat periodontal disease, variations among dental students can be evaluated. A previous study reported high variability in diagnoses and treatment plans of periodontal cases at Indiana University School of Dentistry. This study aimed to build on that one by extending the research to two additional schools: Marquette University School of Dentistry and West Virginia University School of Dentistry. Diagnosis and treatment planning by 40 third- and fourth-year dental students were assessed at each of the schools. Students were asked to select the diagnosis and treatment plans on a questionnaire pertaining to 11 cases. Their responses were compared using chi-square tests, and multirater kappa statistics were used to assess agreement between classes and between schools. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the effects of school, class year, prior experience, and GPA/class rank on correct responses. One case had a statistically significant difference in responses between third- and fourth-year dental students. Kappas for school agreement and class agreement were low. The students from Indiana University had higher diagnosis and treatment agreements than the Marquette University students, and the Marquette students fared better than the West Virginia University students. This study can help restructure future periodontal courses for a better understanding of periodontal diagnosis and treatment planning.Item Clinician-Patient Small Talk: Comparing Fourth-Year Dental Students and Practicing Dentists in a Standardized Patient Encounter(2016) Maupome, Gerardo; Holcomb, Christopher; Schrader, Stuart; Cariology, Operative Dentistry and Dental Public Health, School of DentistryThe aim of this study was to establish whether frequency of non-diagnostic, non-management exchanges between clinicians and patient (called “socioemotional communication,” SC) during a consultation differed between fourth-year dental students and dentists, controlling for clinically driven exchanges of information. Fifteen dentists and 17 fourth-year dental students were recorded in 2006 while undergoing a consultation with a live standardized patient and were subsequently interviewed by investigators in a separate room with the recording present for analysis. Their shared interpretations of cognitive strategies were recorded and compared for differences in the presence of SC. The results showed that most of the students and dentists engaged in SC throughout the consultation with a few exceptions. There were no significant differences between student and dentist cohorts for overall SC presence (p=0.62), time to first instance of SC from overall start of the consultation (p=0.73), and time to first instance of SC after first intraoral examination had taken place (p=0.76). Nonsignificant differences were also recorded for overall frequency at which SC occurred from overall start of the consultation (p=0.89) and after the first intraoral examination had taken place (p=0.12). The patterns showed SC interaction occurring throughout the consultation, not concentrated at the beginning or end. SC did not appear to differ between practitioners and students in terms of prevalence, frequency, or timing. Future research should examine the detailed association between SC and diagnostic thinking processes to further delineate the relationship and characterize possible pedagogical applications.Item Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Effectiveness of iPad Technology in Preclinical Dental Laboratory Courses(Wiley, 2019-04) Kirkup, Michele L.; Adams, Brooke N.; Reifeis, Paul E.; Heselbarth, Jeni L.; Willis, Lisa H.; Prosthodontics, School of DentistryDental educators should consider alternative modalities of instruction when experiencing difficulties conveying feedback to students. The aim of this study was to determine if integrating iPad technology as a visual learning tool would enhance the exchange of assessment information and improve academic performance in Indiana University School of Dentistry's preclinical curriculum. In 2016, the first‐year Tooth Morphology (TM) and second‐year Fixed Prosthodontics (Fixed) courses implemented a project using iPad images that allowed instructors to annotate acceptable and deficient areas of students' tooth wax‐ups and preparations. In the two courses, all students (TM n=106 and Fixed n=105) and instructors (TM n=21 and Fixed n=17) were given pre‐intervention surveys to report their perceived effectiveness of verbal feedback and were given post‐intervention surveys to rate their experiences with iPad image feedback. Response rates for students in the two courses on the pre surveys were TM 87.7% and Fixed 85.7% and on the post surveys were TM 26.4% and Fixed 76.2%. Response rates for instructors on the pre surveys were TM 52.4% and Fixed 82.4% and on the post surveys were TM 76.2% and Fixed 76.5%. The results showed that a majority of both groups preferred the combination of verbal and iPad image feedback: 53% of responding students in TM and 51% in Fixed, and 75% of instructors in TM and 77% in Fixed. In the TM course, responding instructors had a statistically significantly higher agreement than students that feedback with iPad images was superior to verbal feedback alone (p=0.008). Furthermore, a multi‐year analysis of TM practical examination grades found statistically significant lower change scores for the first and second exams in 2014 and 2015 compared to the 2016 scores when the iPad intervention occurred. These results suggest that verbal feedback combined with iPad images resulted in an enhanced exchange of information and increased student grades, particularly in the first‐year dental curriculum.Item Mandatory Drug Testing of Dental Students: To Test or Not to Test: Viewpoint 1: Drug Testing of Dental Students Should Be Mandatory for the Benefit of Students, Institutions, Patients, and the Profession and Viewpoint 2: Mandatory Drug Testing of Dental Students Carries Costs and Risks for Institutions and Students and Has Unproven Benefits(ADEA, 2019-08) Gibson, Tanya Marie; Loza-Herrero, Maria A.; Yepes, Juan F.; Kim-Berman, Hera; Dilbone, Deborah A.; Perez, Herminio; Pediatric Dentistry, School of DentistryAn educational institution’s decision to test or not test its students for drug use is controversial and complex. Although negative consequences of substance use disorder are well known, the consumption of prohibited substances continues to increase in young adults. Given the awareness of increasing drug use on college campuses and the potential impact on future health care professionals, issues associated with mandatory drug testing of dental students warrant investigation. The purpose of this Point/Counterpoint article is to present opposing viewpoints on whether mandatory student drug testing (MSDT) should be implemented for dental students. Viewpoint 1 affirms that MSDT is legal, ensures public safety, is recognized as a need in health care education, promotes professional and ethical responsibility, and is cost-effective. Viewpoint 2 asserts that MSDT has not been proven to be an effective deterrent for student drug use and it poses risks and costs for both institutions and students, ranging from potential violation of students’ civil liberties to the consequences of false positive tests. This article’s presentation of the recent literature on both sides of this issue provides dental educators with pertinent information for considering implementation of MSDT in their institutions.Item New Clinical Faculty Training Program: Transforming Practicing Dentists into Part-Time Dental Faculty Members(ADEA, 2017-06) Adams, Brooke N.; Kirkup, Michele L.; Willis, Lisa H.; Reifis, Paul E.; Cariology, Operative Dentistry and Dental Public Health, School of DentistryAt Indiana University School of Dentistry, a New Clinical Faculty Training (NCFT) program was created with the primary goals of informing new part-time faculty members of clinical policies and assessment guidelines and thus developing qualified and satisfied faculty members. The aim of this study was to determine if participation in the training program improved the participants’ satisfaction and competence in comparison to their colleagues who did not participate in the program. Two cohorts were compared: a control group of part-time faculty members who did not receive formal training when they were hired (n=21; response rate 58.3%); and the intervention group, who had participated in the NCFT program (n=12; response rate 80%). A survey of faculty members in the control group gathered information on their experiences when initially hired, and a pretest was administered to measure their knowledge of clinical policies. After the control group was given an overview of the program, their feedback was collected through post surveys, and a posttest identical to the pretest was given that found statistically significant increases on questions one (p=0.003) and four (p=0.025). In February 2014, 15 new faculty members participated in the pilot implementation of the NCFT program. Of those 15, 12 (the intervention group) completed follow-up surveys identical to the pre survey used with the control group. Statistically significant differences were found for the factors clinical teaching (p=0.005) and assessment training (p=0.008) with better responses for the NCFT group. These results suggest that participation in the program was associated with improved clinical teaching knowledge and job satisfaction.Item The Patient Educator Presentation in Dental Education: Reinforcing the Importance of Learning About Rare Conditions(2016-05) Edwards, Paul C.; Graham, Jasmine; Oling, Rebecca; Frantz, Kate E.; Department of Oral Pathology, Medicine & Radiology, IU School of DentistryThe aim of this study was to determine whether a patient educator presentation (PEP) on pemphigus vulgaris would increase second-year dental students’ awareness of the importance of learning about rare conditions and improve their retention of rare disease knowledge. The study involved students’ subjective assessments of a PEP experience at two U.S. dental schools. In this mixed methods study, cross-sectional data were obtained by surveys and in-depth interviews. Questions focused on students’ assessment of the messages acquired from the PEP and its likely impact on their future clinical care. At University 1, students completed paper surveys with open-ended questions and participated in a focus group. At University 2, students completed an online survey consisting of rating scale and open-ended questions. Responses to open-ended questions were categorized into themes. At University 1, 79 students (out of a possible 102; response rate 77.5%) completed the survey, and an additional ten students participated in a focus group. At University 2, 30 students (out of a possible 104; response rate 28.8%) completed the survey. At Universities 1 and 2, 88% and 100%, respectively, of respondents stated the PEP would influence their future clinical decision making. The vast majority of respondents (94% and 100% at University 1 and University 2, respectively) were of the opinion that the personal testimonial from a patient would help them recall information about pemphigus vulgaris in five years’ time. Respondents from both universities commented that the PEP emphasized the importance of not dismissing a patient’s concerns. These results suggest that a presentation by a patient with a rare condition can be an effective educational tool for preclinical dental students.