Impact of a Longitudinal Lecture Series on Pre-dental Student Recruitment

The expanding number of dental schools has not resulted in a rise in dental school applications; therefore, there is a need to identify and retain pre-dental students in the applicant pool. One way to do this is to introduce an outreach program by dental schools. A limited number of studies have been done on the impact of outreach programs on dental school recruitment.This study was done to examine the effectiveness of an outreach program initiated at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). Third- and fourth-year dental students provided 12 hours of lectures, two hours of case-based learning, and two hours of hands-on laboratory experience to pre-dental students over 12 weeks in a course called Introduction to Dentistry. The course was given in 2015 and 2016 and the participants were surveyed before and after the course to determine their interest in and knowledge of dentistry, and their attitude toward HSDM. After the course, pre-dental students had better understanding of the dental profession overall, were more comfortable conversing about dentistry, and were more likely to apply to HSDM in the future.Dental outreach programs can maintain or increase interest in applicants who were previously interested in applying to dental school; however, admissions committees must carefully consider an applicant’s entire academic and personal background. Participation in an outreach program is not an indication of an applicant’s overall suitability for dentistry in general or for a particular dental school’s program.

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ANTICIPATED SOURCE OF STRESS AMONG DENTAL COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING COVID 19

10.36106/gjra/6301573 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 48-50

Author(s):

Harish Kancharla ◽

Pawan Krishna Murti ◽

D. Ashwani Lahari ◽

S.S. Sandeep Kumar

Keyword(s):

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Dental Students ◽

Dental School ◽

Dental Student ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Study Materials ◽

Positive Learning Environment ◽

Study Population ◽

Set Up ◽

Dental Schools

Background: Identication of the expected wellsprings of stress is signicant in dental instruction program, as it offers freedom to take different measures to forestall pressure in the dental school climate. The purpose of the present study was to address various sources of stress among dental students during covid 19 pandemic and its relation with gender and year of the study. Materials and Methods: rd th A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted among 3 and 4 year students of a dental school. Questionnaire used in the study comprised the modied version of the questionnaire used in Dental Environmental Stress. A four-point Likert scale was used to record the responses from the subjects. A total of 180 subjects participated in the study. The collected data was statistically analyzed by descriptive statistics and Independent t test using SPPSS 21.0 version. Results: th Among the participants, 22% (40) were males and 78% (140) were females. 72 %( 130) were from 4 year while 28 %( rd 50%) were from 3 year. Majority of the study population were having fear of failing (64.7%), exam and grade stress (71.8%), stress for completion of clinical quota (71.2%), and stress for clinical set up (61.9%). Mean stress scores were signicantly related to gender of students. Conclusion: Prevalence of anticipated source of stress was high among dental student. This study highlight the need to implement a positive learning environment by employing strategies to combat the high levels of stress prevalent in dental schools.

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Reconsidering the ‘Decline’ of Dental Student Empathy within the Course in Latin America

Acta Médica Portuguesa ◽

10.20344/amp.8681 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (11) ◽

pp. 775 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Víctor Patricio Díaz-Narváez ◽

Ana María Erazo Coronado ◽

Jorge Luis Bilbao ◽

Farith González ◽

Mariela Padilla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Dental Students ◽

Coefficient Of Determination ◽

Dental Student ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Mean ◽

Physician Empathy ◽

Dental Schools ◽

Academic Year ◽

Made In

Introduction: The controversy over the presence of empathic decline within the course in students of medicine, dentistry and health sciences in general, has not fully been studied. This controversy could be partially solved if massive studies of empathy levels are made in similar cultural, social and economic contexts.Material and Methods: Empathy levels within the course were studied in eighteen dental schools from six countries in Latin America (2013). The mean of the empathy levels were used to study the behavior between first and fifth academic years. The values of empathy levels within the course were observed by applying the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, the Spanish version. All these studies were cross-sectional. The value of means observed, were subjected to regression studies and further adjustment curves were obtained and the coefficient of determination were calculated.Results: Six different models of behavior were observed, which found that five of them suffer empathic decline within the course, but with different final results: in some the decline persists until the fifth academic year and in others, this decline ‘recovers’ persistently until the fifth academic year. The sixth model is characterized by a constant and persistent increase of levels of empathy within the course until the last academic year.Discussion: There are six different models for the behavior of means of levels of empathy within the course evaluated by a common methodology in eighteen dental schools from six countries of Latin America. These findings support the existence of variability of empathic response and a comprehensive approach is needed to find the causes that give rise to this variability.Conclusion: In dental students of Latin America, there is variability in the behavior of the distribution in means between the academic years of the dentistry schools examined in this study.

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Online learning during COVID-19 produced equivalent or better student course performance as compared with pre-pandemic: empirical evidence from a school-wide comparative study

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-021-02909-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Meixun Zheng ◽

Daniel Bender ◽

Cindy Lyon

Keyword(s):

Online Learning ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Online Courses ◽

Dental Students ◽

Dental School ◽

Perceived Effectiveness ◽

Course Performance ◽

Didactic Instruction ◽

Face To Face ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic forced dental schools to close their campuses and move didactic instruction online. The abrupt transition to online learning, however, has raised several issues that have not been resolved. While several studies have investigated dental students’ attitude towards online learning during the pandemic, mixed results have been reported. Additionally, little research has been conducted to identify and understand factors, especially pedagogical factors, that impacted students’ acceptance of online learning during campus closure. Furthermore, how online learning during the pandemic impacted students’ learning performance has not been empirically investigated. In March 2020, the dental school studied here moved didactic instruction online in response to government issued stay-at-home orders. This first-of-its-kind comparative study examined students’ perceived effectiveness of online courses during summer quarter 2020, explored pedagogical factors impacting their acceptance of online courses, and empirically evaluated the impact of online learning on students’ course performance, during the pandemic. Method The study employed a quasi-experimental design. Participants were 482 pre-doctoral students in a U.S dental school. Students’ perceived effectiveness of online courses during the pandemic was assessed with a survey. Students’ course grades for online courses during summer quarter 2020 were compared with that of a control group who received face-to-face instruction for the same courses before the pandemic in summer quarter 2019. Results Survey results revealed that most online courses were well accepted by the students, and 80 % of them wanted to continue with some online instruction post pandemic. Regression analyses revealed that students’ perceived engagement with faculty and classmates predicted their perceived effectiveness of the online course. More notably, Chi Square tests demonstrated that in 16 out of the 17 courses compared, the online cohort during summer quarter 2020 was equally or more likely to get an A course grade than the analogous face-to-face cohort during summer quarter 2019. Conclusions This is the first empirical study in dental education to demonstrate that online courses during the pandemic could achieve equivalent or better student course performance than the same pre-pandemic in-person courses. The findings fill in gaps in literature and may inform online learning design moving forward.

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COVID-19 and a Call to Adapt Dental Education

Frontiers in Dental Medicine ◽

10.3389/fdmed.2021.664460 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Murad Alrashdi ◽

Ahmed Hameed ◽

Abdullah Aljabr

Keyword(s):

Clinical Education ◽

Dental Education ◽

School Administrators ◽

Dental Students ◽

Dental School ◽

Web Based ◽

Early Effect ◽

School Research ◽

Regulatory Bodies ◽

Dental Schools

Introduction: COVID-19 has harmed the economic, academic, and clinical pursuits of dental educational institutions and dental students. As dental associations, health agencies, and regulatory bodies around the globe announced the need for social distancing and stricter safety measures, some dental schools worldwide have been adapting to accommodate for such changes.Methods: This review attempts to provide a general picture of the early responses of some dental schools worldwide to the COVID-19 crisis and identify some of the regulations that influenced dental schools' initial decisions. An analytical approach was used to assess changes to dental school curriculums in didactic (academic/non-clinical) and clinical education, examinations, administration, and dental school research. The assessment was based on a web-based search of a variety of online global references including research articles, reviews, letters, press releases, and surveys regarding the early effect of covid-19 on dental education at some dental institutions in the U.S, Europe, and Asia from late February to early July of 2020. The review also offered further recommendations to dental school administrators regarding the future of dental education during the early stages of a pandemic.Conclusions: Innovations in technology and blended educational methodologies will continue to influence how certain dental schools around the world adapt to the changes caused by COVID-19 and better prepare dental education institutions for potential future public health disruptions.Clinical significance: Dental schools will need to adapt their education system to improve didactic, preclinical, clinical, administrative, and research components of dental education in response to the changes caused by COVID-19 and future pandemics.

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LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ORGAN DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS

DESAFIOS Revista Interdisciplinar da Universidade Federal do Tocantins ◽

10.20873/uftv7-8879 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 72-80

Author(s):

Liliane Kusterer ◽

Caroline Carvalho ◽

Mariana Gallottini ◽

Karin Fernandes ◽

Patricia Bueno ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Death ◽

Organ Donation ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Dental Students ◽

Dental Student ◽

Student Knowledge ◽

Chi Squared ◽

Level Of Knowledge ◽

Dental Schools ◽

Lack Of Knowledge

To assess the level of knowledge of Brazilian dental students about organ donation and transplantation. The 477 undergraduate Brazilian dental students, in the first or in the last year of the course, were questioned from March 2011 to June 2012. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and differences between groups were analyzed by the chi-squared test. Only 84 (18%) reported having already attended to some class about the topic organ transplantation. Students reported knowing the brain death definition, but they did not know how the diagnosis of brain death is made (P =0.148). Students in the first and fifth years did not know about the maintenance care of potential organ donors (P=0.148) and how to approach the family about donation in case of brain death (P=0.561). Our study has demonstrated a lack of knowledge about organ donation and transplantation among undergraduate students in the four dental schools investigated. Nationwide, curriculum implementation is suggested in order to prepare dental care professions to integrate a transplantation team. Further investigation is necessary in order to evaluate dental student knowledge in other Brazilian regions.

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Correlation between Dental Environment and Perceived Stress Scale among Dental Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

Kesmas National Public Health Journal ◽

10.21109/kesmas.v16i3.4653 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Tri Erri Astoeti ◽

Howis Josephine ◽

Armelia Sari Widyarman ◽

Widijanto Sudhana

Keyword(s):

Perceived Stress ◽

Dental Students ◽

Dental School ◽

Dental Student ◽

P Value ◽

Perceived Stress Scale ◽

Positive Correlation ◽

School Work ◽

Stress Scale ◽

Dental Environment

Academic stressors in a medical educational environment are related to two factors. This study was carried out in order to analyze the correlation between the dental environment and perceived stress among dental students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents were 422 undergraduate dental students and the validated Modified Dental Environmental Stress (DES) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaires were used. Furthermore, the Spearman correlation analysis was used to measure the correlation between DES and PSS score. The result showed that five dental stressors were noted to have the strongest correlations with PSS (p-value >0.40). They include expectation towards dental school (p-value = 0.431), lack of confidence to be a successful dentist (p-value = 0.424), lack of confidence to become a successful dental student (p-value = 0.408), dental school regulations (p-value = 0.401) and criticism of school work (p-value = 0.400). In addition, all six DES categories showed a positive correlation with the PSS. Therefore, the dental students collectively displayed moderate perceived stress scores. The overall discoveries from this study showed a positive correlation between the DES and PSS among dental students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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DISCOVERE: AN OUTREACH PROGRAM AT THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.vi0.13766 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Yang Cao ◽

Seach Chyr Goh ◽

Ahmad Rteil ◽

Deborah Roberts ◽

Kevin Golovin

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Engineering ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Outreach Program ◽

Summer Program ◽

Outreach Programs ◽

Hands On ◽

K 12 ◽

The University ◽

The Impact ◽

Education Outreach

Canadian universities are devoting more and more resources to develop K-12 engineering education outreach programs. The School of Engineering at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus offers a variety of outreach and community programs for students of all ages. This paper provides details on the DiscoverE Engineering Summer Program which has been delivered since 2016. The objective of the program is to introduce students general design processes through hands-on civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering projects. The overall goal is to foster a passion in engineering and at the same time attract students who have already had an interest in engineering and are eager to learn more about the discipline. The program is taught by faculty members and exposes students to a variety of hands-on projects in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. This paper will provide curriculum details for each topic and reflect on the student learning experience based on observations. Future qualitative plans on the measure of the impact of this program qualitatively will be explored.

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Brazilian dental students and COVID-19: a survey on knowledge and perceptions

10.1101/2020.07.28.20163964 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Gerusa Brito Aragao ◽

Francisco Isaac Fernandes Gomes ◽

Leticia Pinho Maia Paixao de Melo ◽

Silmara Aparecida Milori Corona

Keyword(s):

Dental Students ◽

Control Measures ◽

General Knowledge ◽

Chi Square ◽

Dental Office ◽

Before And After ◽

Type Of Institution ◽

Dental Schools ◽

And Control ◽

Dental Appointment

This study evaluated the knowledge and perception of Brazilian dental students about COVID-19 and the undergraduate clinical practice during the outbreak by a self-administered web-based questionnaire. A social network campaign on Instagram was raised to approach the reach population. The survey covered demographic and academic profile, general knowledge, preventive measures, and perception about the COVID-19. Descriptive statistics were used to identify frequencies and distributions of variables, which were compared by type of institution and current year of enrollment using Chi-square or Fishers exact tests (alpha=0.05). A total of 833 valid responses were received over 10 days. Students were able to identify the incubation period, main symptoms, and contagious routes of the disease but struggled in recognizing the name of the virus responsible for the pandemics. Hand washing before and after a dental appointment with a patient (97.7%) followed by use of barriers to protect mucosa (97.2%) were the more frequently recognized measures to prevent COVID-19 spread in the dental office. As for the perception of COVID-19, 73.2% of the dental students perceive the disease as severe, while only 11.1% of them think that COVID-19 is severe only for people presenting risk factors. Dental students knowledge and perception were associated with the type of institution and year of enrollment. In summary, the dental students demonstrated an acceptable general knowledge about COVID-19, but dental schools will need to address gaps in knowledge and control measures and perceptions to ensure a safer return to practical activities.

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Assessment Of An Engineering Technology Outreach Program For 4th-7th Grade Girls

American Journal of Engineering Education (AJEE) ◽

10.19030/ajee.v2i1.4273 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 19-34

Author(s):

Elizabeth M. Dell ◽

Jeanne Christman ◽

Robert D. Garrick

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Outreach Program ◽

Science And Engineering ◽

Engineering Technology ◽

Technology Students ◽

Hands On ◽

Before And After ◽

Student Volunteers ◽

Technology College ◽

The Impact

This paper describes a workshop led by female Engineering Technology students, with support from female faculty, to provide an introduction to Engineering Technology to 4th – 7th grade girls through a series of interactive laboratory experiments. This outreach program was developed to improve attitudes towards science and engineering in middle school-aged girls by making science tangible and fun. The workshop takes place on a college campus and makes use of four different Engineering Technology laboratories. Each lab activity includes a hands-on experiment, beginning with an overview of the engineering technology discipline and a brief description of the theories related to the experiment. The day culminates with a panel session between the participants and the college students. An ancillary outcome of the program is that it serves as a community building event for female Engineering Technology college students. Connections are developed between the students and between students and faculty in the college. The college students gain the satisfaction of influencing the attitudes of participants and develop critical communication skills. An attitude survey given to participants before and after the workshop shows that participation in these workshops results in a more positive attitude towards science and technology. College student volunteers were also surveyed after the workshop to determine the impact of their participation. A full workshop description is given in this paper as well as analysis of the assessment results for the participants and the college students.

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