Education that allows South Korean Colleges of Dentistry to teach Emergency Care

Abstract

As the medical environment and dental services change, the importance of educating dentists in responses to systemic emergencies is increasing. The current student-oriented education paradigm is moving towards training students in the abilities required to address the daily crises they will face, while also providing them with the ability to deliver knowledge. Before addressing a patient's situation, emergency physicians begin by diagnosing symptoms. As they must decide on the tests and treatments that are immediately required and must solve problems through interdisciplinary treatment, emergency physicians require additional skills and communication abilities besides clinical knowledge. Since dentistry colleges provide education that emphasizes the skills dentists require to treat oral diseases, they do not have sufficient time to teach emergency care. Additionally, because their professors lack expertise in pedagogy, dental students also have insufficient motivation to study the pathophysiology of systemic diseases. This review proposes a direction of teaching that can help dental students recognize problems and situations in emergency cases and that can help them develop their capability to immediately make a decision and resolve the problem. To do this, the author surveyed the educational philosophy and knowledge provided in the instructional design of clinical professors who give lectures on emergency care, and also examined the teaching methods of the learner-oriented education paradigm.