New technologies in health care. Part 2: A legal and professional dilemma.
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With the constant introduction and marketing of new dental technologies, dentists sometimes have difficulty deciding whether a new technology will be beneficial to their patients. At the same time, these clinicians are professionally and legally obligated to inform their patients about all appropriate therapeutic alternatives. In this second article of a 2-part series, we review these obligations, as well as provide information about where dentists can find the necessary scientific evidence on which to base an informed decision. (+info)
What do dental students learn in an ethics course? An analysis of student-reported learning outcomes.
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The purpose of this article is to report first-year dental students' perceptions of their primary learning outcomes from a course in ethics and professionalism. Students were asked to identify one topic or theme from the course that might influence their professional practice. Responses from 232 students were analyzed according to the explicit topics taught in the course. The most commonly identified topics were confidentiality (21 percent), informed consent (21 percent), and obtaining assent from children and adolescents (19 percent). An ad hoc analysis of students' narratives provides preliminary evidence that students perceive an increased awareness of their role and obligations as a professional immediately after a course in ethics and professionalism. The long-term influence of coursework in ethics and professionalism remains unknown. (+info)
Analysis of the ethical aspects of professional confidentiality in dental practice.
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Strategic management and organizational behavior in dental education: reflections on key issues in an environment of change.
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With issues such as shrinking revenue, access to care, faculty workloads, and graying faculty, dental schools are faced with difficult challenges that fall to dental school deans to manage. Do dental school deans have the organizational skill sets and ethical frameworks necessary to address the challenges now facing dental schools? The purpose of this article is to pose questions and suggestions regarding some of the key issues in dental colleges today and to stimulate discussion in the dental community about needed changes in dental education. (+info)
Iranian dental students' knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients.
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Dental treatment procedures frequently involve blood and saliva that may be contaminated with HIV. The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to assess Iranian dental students' knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients. In 2008, a fifty-three-item self-administered questionnaire was conducted on all 750 dental students who participated in the 10(th) Dental Student Congress in Isfahan, Iran. The overall response rate to the questionnaire was 60.7 percent. The total mean knowledge and attitudes scores were 82.1 percent (excellent) and 57.4 percent (negative), respectively. There were no significant differences in the knowledge or attitude scores between male and female students. A majority of the students were aware of the association between HIV and oral candidiasis (98.1 percent), major aphthous (95.8 percent), and Kaposi's sarcoma (93.8 percent). Although a majority of the students had excellent knowledge (78.4 percent), only 1 percent had professional attitudes about treating patients with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, it is important that dental students, as future dentists, develop not only the necessary practical skills but also attitudes that will prepare them to treat HIV/AIDS patients. (+info)
The servant leader: a higher calling for dental professionals.
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The dental profession is guided by normative principles that provide guidance to our leaders and practicing dentists in addressing the needs of patients and the profession, yet there is room for incorporating new ideas that help dental professionals meet their professional obligations. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the concept of "servant leadership," especially in contrast with "self-serving leaders," and to suggest that servant leadership is consistent with the high ethical and professional ideals of the dental profession. The servant leader is the antithesis of the self-serving leader, who incessantly seeks more power and acquisition of material possessions. The servant leader's highest priority is the people (patients/students/customers) he or she serves. The concept of the servant-leader can take us away from self-serving, top-down leadership and encourage us to think harder about how to respect, value, and motivate people and ultimately provide better service to our patients. (+info)
Integrating leadership into a practice management curriculum for dental students.
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Curriculum evaluations by recent graduates of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine suggested the need for additional coursework in practice management. Given the complex challenges facing practitioners, the course design was expanded beyond the suggested practice management to include leadership theory and skills. Students were able to distinguish and assess their level of various leadership skills at the end of the course. The course received an overall rating of 4.23 on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), with 84 percent of responding students indicating that their interest-specifically in the areas of clinical efficiency, practice management, reducing medical errors, communication, business, team building, leadership, and access to care-was enhanced. The responding students assessed their current leadership skills overall at 3.84. They assessed themselves best at "Integrity" (4.48) and worst at "Managing Conflict" (3.12). They felt that "Ability to Build Trust with Others" is the most beneficial skill for a dentist, while "Ability to Influence" is the least beneficial. Eighty-eight percent of students responding indicated that it is "Very Likely" they will continue to practice developing their leadership skills. Qualitative feedback was overwhelmingly positive and indicated that students found the course life-altering and highly valued its breadth of topics. (+info)
Ethics, empathy, and the education of dentists.
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Professional education in dentistry exists to educate good dentists-dentists equipped and committed to helping society gain the benefits of oral health. In achieving this intention, dental educators acknowledge that student dentists must acquire the complex knowledge base and the sophisticated perceptual-motor skills of dentistry. The graduation of knowledgeable and skilled clinicians in dentistry is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for ensuring quality oral health care. The further requirement is the commitment of graduates to applying their abilities with moral integrity: providing appropriate and quality care in their patients' best interest. Ultimately, good dentistry depends on individuals committed to treating their patients and society fairly, that is, ethically. This essay describes the historical basis for thinking about ethics from the perspective of human nature; describes how evolutionary ethics seeks to ground moral behavior in human emotion rather than primarily human reason; discusses the roots of morality in the behavior of animals, behavior that observed in humans would be described as empathy; characterizes empathy, discussing its imperative in caring for patients; and suggests what implications an empathy-mediated understanding of morality has for dental education. (+info)