COVID 19 and Dental Education: Transitioning from a Well-established Synchronous Format and Face to Face Teaching to an Asynchronous Format of Dental Clinical Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic made it necessary to adopt and establish complete or partial online delivery of our clinical teaching and learning. We developed an alternative approach with a combination of Problem based Learning asynchronous fora and Teacher-facilitated synchronous online discussions. Our aim is to share our educational practice and highlight the requirements and constraints, advantages and challenges of such an approach. It allowed a more student-centred experience, but clinical simulation and face-to-face patient care remain necessary. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of dental education for the foreseeable future, with a reduced number of patients in dental clinics. Further study is therefore necessary to understand the lived experience of students and teachers to the adopted online teaching and learning approach.

Impact of COVID-19 on Dental Education

“…PBL [2], case-based discussion [2,22,40] and virtual patients (VPs) [11,22] used in the simulation of clinical cases, in interviews, in the analysis of ethical cases [41], to improve students' skills in decision making and diagnosis, are also alternatives that can develop clinical reasoning [22]. VPs are efficient, interactive, enable experience with rare cases and allow for the improvement of skills in a less intimidating environment [41].…”

“…For students, it is comfortable, reduces costs, facilitates access to teaching materials [13,40], given the chat option, timid students can be more participatory [18], and, both for students and teachers, emergency remote education modalities encourage a focus on the student [40], as they demand more responsibility and protagonism [19]. In online clinical teaching, the absence of the patient caused students to make mistakes, without compromising patient safety [2].…”

“…Reported difficulties included the limited knowledge of the teaching staff on technology, the availability and quality of students' connection to the internet [13,23,31], extra expenses for increasing internet franchise [13], inadequacy of some topics for the online version [23,41], lack of development of clinical skills and communication with patients [2], lack of attention on the part of students [13,31,40], lack of motivation and lack of adequate books or study material in their homes [31], the intensive nature of resources, student misbehavior [40], time management difficulties [31] and lack of electronic devices, especially in middle- [41] and low-income countries [46].…”

“…The teaching and learning of dental practice differs from other undergraduate courses in the health and social care disciplines, as dentistry students perform irreversible procedures on patients under the supervision of clinical professors, who assume indirect responsibility for the work of these students [2]. The Dentistry course has large load of practical activities, so it became a great challenge to carry out clinical activities, since teachers and students are isolated at home without access to dental equipment.…”

Covid-19 Pandemi Döneminde Diş Hekimliği Eğitiminde Yeni Normaller

“…Online eğitimler gerçek hasta üzerinde yapılan eğitimlerin avantajlarını tam karşılayamadıkları gibi öğrenciler arasında akran eğitimi yönünden de zayıftır. Uluslararası öğrencileri olan kurumlarda saat farkının derslere katılımda getirdiği zorluklar, teknolojik alt yapıların geliştirilmesi, pahalı sistemlere gereksinim olması ve taşınabilirliğin pek mümkün olmaması gibi sorunları içermesine rağmen artık eğitim hayatımızın bir parçası olmuştur (6,15). Man Hung ve arkadaşlarının %92.4'ünü doktora öncesi diş hekimliği öğrencilerinin oluşturduğu 145 katılımcı ile COVID-19 enfeksiyonunun diş hekimliği eğitimi üzerine etkisi konulu çalışmalarında öğrencilerin yoğun stres altında oldukları, klinik eğitimlerinin önemli oranda olumsuz etkilendiğine inandıkları, teorik derslerin yeni teknolojiler eşliğinde online verilmesine çabuk uyum sağladıkları bildirilmiştir (7).…”