Supervising dentists' perspectives on the effectiveness of community-based dental education

Preethy Nayar, Kimberly McFarland, Brian Lange, Diptee Ojha, Aastha Chandak

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Commission on Dental Accreditation recently implemented new predoctoral standards that require dental schools in the United States to provide students with community-based dental education (CBDE) experiences. The objective of this study was to examine the perspectives of supervising dentists (also known as dental preceptors) at rural CBDE sites regarding the Uni-versity of Nebraska Medical Center program's effectiveness in improving the competencies of dental students. Surveys were sent to all forty-three preceptors in two subsequent years: nineteen responded to all questions in 2012 and sixteen in 2013, for a total of thirty-five participants. These preceptors evaluated the effectiveness of the program based on the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Competencies for the New General Dentist. Overall, these preceptors rated the CBDE program as effective (excellent or very good) in improving the students' competence in five of the six ADEA domains: Critical Thinking, Professional-ism, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Health Promotion, Patient Care: Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment Planning, and Patient Care: Establishment and Maintenance of Oral Health. Practice Management and Informatics was found to be the least effective domain of competence. CBDE provides a unique opportunity to develop a competent dental workforce with an appre-ciation for the value of community service. Applying a competency-based framework to program evaluation can provide valuable information on program effectiveness to program administrators, educators, and the dental preceptors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1139-1144
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of dental education
Volume78
Issue number8
StatePublished - Aug 1 2014

Keywords

  • Community-based dental education
  • Competencies
  • Dental education
  • Program evaluation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • General Dentistry

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