ADEA annual survey of clinic fees and revenue: 1998-1999 academic year.
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The American Dental Education Association's 1998-1999 Survey of Clinic Fees and Revenue obtained data by which to report, by school, clinic revenue information per undergraduate student. Fifty of the fifty-five U.S. dental schools responded to the survey. The median revenue per third-year student was $6,313. It was $11,680 for fourth-year students. Clinic revenue data was also obtained by type of postdoctoral program. The postdoctoral general dentistry programs had the highest per student clinic revenues, at over $59,000 per AEGD student and almost $35,000 per student of GPR programs. Other areas of the survey provided information regarding clinic fees by type of program, levels of uncompensated care by type of program, clinic revenue by source of payment, and dental school fees as a percent of usual and customary private practice fees. (+info)
Experiences and perceptions of vocational training reported by the 1999 cohort of vocational dental practitioners and their trainers in England and Wales.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess the self-reported confidence of vocational dental practitioners (VDPs) in clinical procedures together with vocational trainers' perceptions of the VDPs confidence in the same procedures, immediately after qualification and towards the end of the vocational training year. DESIGN: A questionnaire-based cohort study. SETTING: A general practice study carried out in 1999. SUBJECTS: Vocational Dental Practitioners and vocational trainers in England and Wales. METHOD: VDPs and trainers were asked on a single occasion to grade the clinical confidence of the VDP at the beginning and near the end of vocational training as high, satisfactory or low. RESULTS: Questionnaires were sent to 531 VDPs and 555 trainers; 82 per cent of VDPs and trainers responded. Approximately half the VDPs were male and 57 per cent were white, whilst 89 per cent of trainers were male and 81 per cent white. A large proportion of both VDPs and trainers reported low confidence in orthodontics, molar endodontics and surgical extractions at the start of the training year. Towards the end of training, both groups reported improved confidence levels in most clinical procedures. However, a higher proportion of trainers reported low confidence than their VDPs in most clinical procedures at both time points (p<0.001). VDPs appeared to gain most from experience and training in administration/management and interpersonal skills. CONCLUSION: Vocational training appears to satisfy its aim to enhance clinical and administrative confidence. (+info)
Expectations and perceptions of Greek patients regarding the quality of dental health care.
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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions and expectations of patients regarding the quality of dental health care they received and the criteria they used to select a dentist. DESIGN: Descriptive study. METHODS: Two questionnaires referring to the expectations and the perceptions of dental health care were handed to patients. Likert-type scales were used to evaluate the characteristics examined. These characteristics have been classified in four quality dimensions: 'assurance', 'empathy', 'reliability' and 'responsiveness'. STUDY PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Two hundred consecutive patients who visited the Dental Clinic of the School of Dentistry, University of Athens, Greece, in 1998-1999. RESULTS: The patients' top priority was adherence to the rules of antisepsis and sterilization. Women of the middle and lower socio-economic groups were more demanding than men of the same groups, while men of the upper socio-economic group appeared to be more demanding than women (P = 0.02). Their perceptions of the dental service provided reflected their satisfaction regarding the adherence to the rules of antisepsis and sterilization, but also showed their moderate satisfaction regarding most of the other characteristics and their dissatisfaction regarding information on oral health and hygiene. CONCLUSION: Expectations and demands regarding empathy (approach to the patient) and assurance were placed at the top of the patients' priorities. A highly significant quality gap was observed between the desires of the patients and their perceptions (P< 0.01) and the largest gap was noted concerning information they received about oral health diseases. The largest quality gap was also observed in characteristics regarding responsiveness. (+info)
Laboratory instruction in histology at the University at Buffalo: recent replacement of microscope exercises with computer applications.
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Histology is a morphologic science in which the structure of the cells, tissues, and organs of the body are examined with a microscope. In the laboratory courses in histology at the School of Medicine of the University at Buffalo, histologic specimens had been used since the late 19th century to teach the principles of cell, tissue, and organ structure. Students also had to learn how to analyze or "read" slides with a microscope. Learning histology in this way, i.e., by direct examination of actual specimens, is time consuming and viewed by some as unnecessary. As a result of recent curricular reform at the School of Medicine that reduced contact time in histology, half of all laboratory exercises that would have been performed with a microscope were performed instead with interactive computer applications. By replacing some microscope exercises with more efficient computer applications, the histology course accommodated curricular change by both reducing contact time and continuing to offer valuable microscope laboratories for most of the organ systems of the body. To provide a basis for comparing traditional microscope exercises with computer-assisted instruction in histology, the nature of the laboratory experience between 1846 and 1998 is briefly reviewed. The instructional strategy behind the use of computers is presented, along with the nature of the computer applications and the means by which the computer applications were incorporated into the school's laboratory course in histology. (+info)
Problem-based learning and the dental school library.
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A major curriculum revision involving the utilization of problem-based learning was implemented at Indiana University School of Dentistry in the summer of 1997. Two of the main goals of this new student-centered curriculum were to promote critical thinking skills and to encourage a desire for lifelong learning, both of which were anticipated to increase student use of the library. This study examined circulation at the library for three years immediately prior to, and for three years immediately following, the curricular change. Results show that library circulation has increased significantly since the pedagogical change. This suggests that students in the new curriculum place more emphasis on the library as a learning resource than did their traditional curriculum counterparts. (+info)
Purposeful assessment techniques (PAT) applied to an OSCE-based measurement of competencies in a pediatric dentistry curriculum.
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Careful measurements of knowledge, attitude, and psychomotor and communication skills are necessary components of testing in a competency-based approach to education in dentistry. In an effort to address these requirements, Baylor College of Dentistry (BCD), Dallas, Texas, has applied Purposeful Assessment Techniques (PAT) to the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) currently in use. PAT are those techniques that allow one to work toward development of linear measurement scales that are "person-free" and "item-free." Person-free measurement means that useful data are produced regardless of the group being measured and item-free measurement means that it does not matter which mix of items is completed over the course of an assessment. The Rasch probabilistic model and a guiding definition of Objective Measurement were used in an effort to implement PAT for the BCD OSCE. A Rasch analysis of a BCD-administered OSCE produced an item map that demonstrated the range of difficulty of items by student performance. This item map can be used to determine which items can be repeated on subsequent tests to allow for linear measurement of students' progression through the curriculum. The movement toward PAT described in this paper demonstrates how careful and evolving measurement in dental education can be of great benefit to faculty, staff, students, and the public. (+info)
University of Kentucky community-based field experience: program description.
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Community-based field experiences (CBFE) provide students with exemplary experiential learning opportunities. The purposes of this paper are to describe the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry (UKCD) CBFE and report the results of a two-year, self-report survey that assessed the primary course goal, students' perceptions of change in knowledge and skills related to nineteen areas of patient care (n = 90, 100% return rate), and their overall rating of the program. Knowledge and skill data were analyzed using the non-parametric binomial test for comparing proportions. A significant (.05 level) majority of students reported increases in knowledge in all areas to which they were exposed. Descriptive frequencies summarizing the results of the total CBFE experience indicate that the majority of students felt it was a positive experience. The CBFE continues to be a meaningful element in the UKCD curriculum as it provides students with a relevant, authentic educational experience. (+info)
Creating a school without walls and building a learning organization: a case study.
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Abstract: This article describes the genesis of a "school without walls" philosophy and the implementation of learning organization principles at Boston University School of Dental Medicine (BUSDM). In Peter Senge's five-discipline approach to organizational learning, a learning organization is defined as "an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future." It is an organization that changes and innovates based on continuous learning, which in BUSDM's case constituted learning from industry trends, patients, students, staff, faculty, and other key stakeholders. Most important, such organizations successfully translate that learning into effective action. It is this capacity to innovate and create change that is critical to competitive advantage and success in a changing environment. This case study of organizational change provides a discussion of the conceptual framework guiding the design and implementation of the learning organization and the chronology of transformation that occurred in three phases over a period of twenty years. We also describe the lessons we learned and the lessons that are still emerging. (+info)