Journal Article

Situational simulation teaching effectively improves dental students’ non-operational clinical competency and objective structured clinical examination performance

Wu, Ju-Hui, Liu, Hsin-Liang, Lee, Kun-Tsung, Lu, Peih-Ying, Lee, Chen-Yi, Lin, Pei Chen

2024

Overview

Background Appropriate communication with dental patients enhances treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction. Implementing simulated patient interviews courses can improve patient-centered care and reduce conflict during clerkship training. Therefore, this study explored the relationship among student participation in a situational simulation course (SSC), academic performance, clerkship performance, and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) performance. Methods This study was conducted with a sample of fifth-year dental students undergoing clerkship training. After implementing a situational simulation course to investigate the relationship among participation in SSC, academic performance, clerkship performance, and OSCE performance, a path analysis model was developed and tested. Results Eighty-seven fifth-year dental students were eligible for the SSC, and most ( n  = 70, 80.46%) volunteered to participate. The path analysis model revealed that academic performance had a direct effect on OSCE performance (β = 0.281, P  = 0.003) and clerkship performance (β = 0.441, P  < 0.001). In addition, SSC teaching had a direct effect on OSCE performance (β = 0.356, P  < 0.001). Conclusions SSCs can enhance dental students’ non-operational clinical competency and OSCE performance effectively. Simulated patient encounters with feedback, incorporated into the dental curricula, have led to improved communication. Based on our findings, we suggest implementing SSC teaching before the OSCE to improve communication and cognitive skills.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Academic achievement / Academic Performance / Active learning / Clinical Clerkship / Clinical Competence / Clinical medicine / Clinical simulation education / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive ability / Communication / Constructivism / Core curriculum / Decision making / Dental schools / Dental students / Dentistry / Education / Education, Dental - methods / Education, Dental - standards / Educational Measurement / Evaluation / Experiential learning / Feedback / Female / Humans / Learning Processes / Learning Strategies / Learning Theories / Male / Medical Education / Methods / Objective structured clinical examination / Patient satisfaction / Patient Simulation / Patient-centered care / Patients / Questionnaires / Role playing / Simulated patient / Simulated patients / Simulation / Simulation Training / Skills / Students / Students, Dental / Study and teaching / Supervisors / Teachers / Teaching / Teaching Methods / Theory of Medicine/Bioethics / Thinking Skills / Undergraduate dental students