A Case Completion Curriculum for Clinical Dental Education: Replacing Numerical Requirements with Patient‐Based Comprehensive Care

Abstract

The aim of this article is to describe the development and implementation of a case completion curriculum as a new clinical education model for the predoctoral program at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In this innovative model, students conduct patient-based comprehensive care and complete assigned patient cases on which their performance is assessed, in contrast with a traditional model based on procedural numerical requirements. In our new model, senior tutors, who are full-time faculty members, act as group leaders responsible for patient assignment, treatment planning, monitoring of student performance, and verification of patient care. The number of completed patient cases in this new comprehensive care system increased from a previous average of 12.8 cases per student prior to graduation to 22.8 cases. Additionally, the number of patients who had to be transferred due to outstanding or pending treatment when their student provider graduated or because of students' need to fulfill discipline requirements has decreased from an average of 16.4 to 4.6.

Dental Students’ Clinical Experience Across Three Successive Curricula at One U.S. Dental School

“…Like many U.S. dental schools over the last 25 years, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry has employed various clinical curricula to ensure students obtain adequate clinical experience and attain required competencies for graduation. Dental schools have introduced such innovative curriculum and assessment formats as comprehensive care, 1 – 6 case completion, 7 , 8 competency examinations, 9 – 12 portfolios, 13 , 14 and community‐based, off‐campus externships 15 – 17 . UCSF has had three major clinical curricular changes since 1992, moving from a discipline‐based curriculum to a comprehensive care curriculum to a procedural requirement curriculum plus externships.…”

Complexity of comprehensive care treatments in undergraduate dental programs: The benefits of observing and assisting experienced faculty members

“…At the beginning of the CCD course and following patients allocation and referral policies of the college, each student selects three respective comprehensive cases as simple, moderate and advanced following the criteria of case selection described in CCD course specification so that prosthodontics is a fundamental part of the proposed treatment in addition to two different clinical disciplines. Similar to other programs, completing the assigned three comprehensive cases, in addition to the minimum requirements of 160 points, is mandatory for passing the CCD course (Park et al, 2011).…”

Factors Influencing Requirement's Implementation of Clinical Dental Student of Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta

“…3 Kekurangan yang sering dirasakan adalah ketidakmampuan untuk memotivasi mahasiswa dalam memberikan perawatan yang komprehensif, kemungkinan perawatan pasien akan dihentikan begitu target kasus klinik minimal sudah terpenuhi, dan mahasiswa profesi kesulitan memenuhi semua requirement. 4 Mahasiswa profesi akan mengalami keterlambatan kelulusan apabila tidak mampu memenuhi semua requirement. 5 Adanya perbedaan antara persepsi mahasiswa dengan hasil laporan SIM RSGMP menunjukkan jika persepsi yang dirasakan mahasiswa profesi belum benarbenar mampu untuk menggambarkan keadaan yang sebenarnya.…”