The use of virtual patients in dental education is gaining acceptance as an adjunctive method to live patient interactions for training dental students. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which virtual patients are being utilized in dental education by conducting a survey that was sent to sixty-seven dental schools in the United States and Canada. A total of thirty dental schools responded to the web-based survey. Sixty-three percent of the responding dental schools use virtual patients for preclinical or clinical exercises. Of this group, 31.3 percent have used virtual patients in their curricula for more than ten years, and approximately one-third of those who do use virtual patients expose their students to more than ten virtual patient experiences over the entirety of their programs. Of the schools that responded, 90.5 percent rated the use of virtual patients in dental education as important or very important. An additional question addressed the utilization of interactive elements for the virtual patient. Use of virtual patients can provide an excellent method for learning and honing patient interviewing skills, medical history taking, recordkeeping, and patient treatment planning. Through the use of virtual patient interactive audio/video elements, the student can experience interaction with his or her virtual patients during a more realistic simulation encounter.
PurposeThe evaluation of the effectiveness of simulation training in dentistry has previously been focused primarily on psychomotor hand skills. This study explored the impact of simulated patient (SP) encounters in simulation on students’ self‐assessment of competency in their clinical and communication abilities with geriatric patients.MethodsStudents from 2 cohorts were recruited for this study. Cohort 1 (n = 30) participated in the standard curriculum with no simulation training and served as the control group. Cohort 2 (n = 34) participated in a SP experience, simulating the initial stages of a care visit for 2 nursing home patients. Students’ perceptions of competency to perform these clinical and communication tasks were assessed. A group debriefing session was held 5 weeks post‐simulation where Cohort 2 completed a student feedback form.ResultsA statistically significant change (P < 0.00001) was noted for both cohorts in their self‐reported competence to perform clinical tasks following exposure to an independent clinical experience. In addition to this gain, individuals in Cohort 2 demonstrated improvements following simulation and expressed different responses of impact to questions related to treatment, pharmacology, and managing a complex medical history.ConclusionsThis study suggests that simulation of patient interactions using SPs can strengthen students’ self‐assessment of competency in their abilities, leading to more genuine interactions with actual patients. These findings will help inform the design of future SP encounters as a component of an evolving humanistic curriculum.
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