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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Nov 25;16(1):305.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-016-0825-8.

Anatomy meets dentistry! Linking anatomy and clinical practice in the preclinical dental curriculum

Nicole Rafai  1   2 , Martin Lemos  3 , Lieven Nils Kennes  4 , Ayichah Hawari  5 , Susanne Gerhardt-Szép  6 , Irmgard Classen-Linke  7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Anatomy meets dentistry! Linking anatomy and clinical practice in the preclinical dental curriculum

Nicole Rafai et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Establishing a strong link early on between preclinical coursework and the clinical context is necessary for students to be able to recognize the practical relevance of the curriculum during their preclinical anatomical courses and to transfer knowledge more easily. Our objective was to enhance the clinical relevance of a preclinical anatomy course for second-year medical students of dentistry by implementing an interdisciplinary skills training course on "Palpation of the Head and Neck Muscles" and to measure the learning outcomes.

Methods: For the curricular development of the expanded course module, Kern's 6-step approach was applied including subjective evaluation. We used a peer-teaching format supported by an e-learning application. A randomized control study measured effects of the two components (skills training, e-module) on learning outcomes. Four learning methods were compared: (1) lecture, (2) lecture + e-module, (3) lecture + skills training, (4) lecture + skills training + e-module. An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) was used to measure and compare learning outcomes.

Results: The two-way variance analysis demonstrated that participation in the skills training had a statistically significant effect on the OSCE results (p = 0.0007). Students who participated in the skills training did better (φ 107.4 ± 14.4 points) than students who only attended the lecture (φ 88.8 ± 26.2 points). Students who used the e-module but did not attend the skills training earned a slightly but not significantly higher average number of points (φ 91.8 ± 31.3 points) than those who only attended the lecture. The learning outcomes of the skills training were again significantly increased when the training was combined with the e-module (φ 121.8 ± 21.8 points), thus making it the ideal method for achieving the learning objectives defined in this study.

Conclusions: The "Palpation of the Head and Neck Muscles" interdisciplinary skills training course linking basic anatomical knowledge and clinical skills led to clearly improved learning outcomes for both, anatomical knowledge and clinical skills. The additional use of an e-learning tool (e-module) improved the learning effect.

Keywords: Anatomy; Clinical skills; Dentistry; E-learning; Interdisciplinarity; Learning outcomes; OSCE; Peer-teaching; Randomized controlled trial.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Screenshots of the e-module “Palpation of the Head and Neck Muscles”
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Box plots displaying the distribution of points achieved by OSCE for each group: impact of the influencing factors of skills training (group 3), e-module (group 2) and both (group 4) on the OSCE results (N = 52)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Correlation analysis between anatomical knowledge and palpation skills based on the OSCE results
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Correlation analysis between anatomical knowledge and palpation skills in the individual study groups based on the OSCE results
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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