Assessing Dental Student and Faculty Views on the Transition to the Clinical Setting

Abstract

Introduction: Dental education reform has been a focus for many schools over recent years, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the presented study was to assess faculty and student preferences for feedback styles, learning modalities in the clinical setting, and transitioning from the preclinical to clinical environments.Methods: Two separate surveys were distributed to clinical faculty and students from classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023.Results: Notably, faculty had significantly more favorable views on interpersonal dynamics within the student clinic compared to students (p = 0.0255). While students and faculty differed in their views on the transition from preclinical to clinical practice, clinical performance, and teaching/learning modality preferences, these results were not statistically significant.Conclusion: Nevertheless, discrepancies in student and faculty responses to questions centering on feedback preferences, teaching/learning modality preferences, and transitioning to the clinical environment indicate potential avenues to explore for future development efforts.