Implementation of a communication curriculum in undergraduate dental education—students' opinions during a 5‐year development phase

Abstract

IntroductionCommunication training has become an essential part of the dental curriculum. The aim of this study was to evaluate the communication curriculum developed and introduced 2016–2021 at the University of Bern, School of Dental Medicine (SDM), Switzerland.Materials and MethodsThe curriculum was implemented cumulatively in three phases: (1) lectures and accompanying role plays, (2) forum theatre and trainer‐based communication training and (3) self‐assessment. Students were surveyed 2016–2021 at the end of each semester using anonymous online questionnaires with five‐point Likert scales (0–4).ResultsA total of 191 fourth‐ and fifth‐year students were surveyed, and 165 (86.4%) questionnaires were analysed. The mean age of the participants was 24.2 ± 1.4 and 45.5% were female. While students' opinions about the need to communicate increased during weekly lectures in phase 1, their opinions about their ability to communicate simultaneously decreased. During phase 2, fourth‐year students' opinions on the need to communicate with dental patients increased from 3.22 ± 0.61 to 3.73 ± 0.45 (p = .001), anticipated benefits for dentists increased from 2.78 ± 0.71 to 3.43 ± 0.57 (p = .001) and for patients from 3.00 ± 0.76 to 3.47 ± 0.63 (p = .022). Only in phase 3, opinions on the ability to communicate statistically significantly increased for both fourth‐ (2.34 ± 0.71 to 2.72 ± 0.60, p = .033) and fifth‐year (2.20 ± 0.63 to 2.86 ± 0.59, p = .001) students. Preferred teaching and assessment methods were trainer‐based communication trainings (73.1%), lectures (67.3%) and self‐assessments in the student clinic (59.6%).ConclusionCommunication curricula in dental education using methods such as lectures and trainer‐based communication trainings may additionally need to include self‐assessments to be effective from the students' perspective.