Oral Health and Dental Management

Dental students views of their clinical cognitive skills a qualitative study

22^nd International Conference on Dental Education

April 09-10, 2018 | Amsterdam, Netherlands

Faaiz Alhamdani

Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies, KSA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Oral Health Dent Manag

Abstract:

Introduction: Clinical skills involve students�?? cognitive and technical skills, which represents the essential aspects of professional competency. Clinical skills�?? development was a focus of many recent studies. Previously conducted studies showed that undergraduate dental students have more interest toward developing their technical clinical skills, which include simple and complicated dental extractions, rather than developing cognitive skills. However, to the best of the author�??s knowledge no previously conducted qualitative study to understand students�?? perception of their cognitive clinical skills. Materials & Methods: This focus group study was conducted in Almustansiryah College of Dentistry. The study sample was nine students. Six students were fifth year students, and three were fourth year students. A semi-structured interview was conducted using a set of open-ended questions based on previous study and the author�??s 10 year clinical teaching experience. The model on which the discussions were made was Patient Information Sheet of Oral Surgery Department. Results: Reaching diagnosis and making logical treatment decision in the used patient information sheet model, as perceived by students, seem to be a daunting process. The study showed that students have three overlapping views regarding diagnosis and treatment planning items, importance, ambiguity, and deterrence. There are no clear-cut boundaries between these aspects, as important aspects for some participants still ambiguous for others. Ambiguous items is considered by some students consider them as deterrent items. Conclusions: Undergraduate dental students seem to have critical awareness towards the diagnostic and treatment planning process, which might indicate that students have interest to develop their clinical cognitive skills. However, the pressure of time with the clinical requirement appears to drive students to give more emphasis on technical skills.

Biography :

Faaiz Alhamdani finished his PhD in Newcastle University, UK in 2012. Part of his PhD project was qualitative study on patients’ experiences with blow-out fractures of the orbit. Since then he became interested in qualitative research methodologies. Beside his interest in qualitative research he is also interested in educational research and quality of life research, particularly in oral and maxillofacial surgery. He currently works as a Head of Clinical Sciences, College of Dentistry, Ibn Sina University for Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Baghdad-Iraq. He joined IADR in 2010 and from 2010-2016 he worked as Iraqi Division Secretary. On August 2016 he was elected as President of Iraqi Division. From 2012 he co-organized most of Iraqi Division (IAOR) events and in August, 2017 he was the main organizer and President of the fourth IAOR Scientific Conference in Antalya Turkey.