Scholarly record

STUDENTSВ’ AND CLINICAL TEACHERS PERCEPTIONS ABOUT CLINICAL LEARNING IN DENTAL EDUCATION

A. Caraiane, C. Nicolae

Abstract

Background: The education to the faculty of dental medicine has a special part, the clinical education that require the transfer of learned information into the practice. How learning and teaching take place in the clinical training for the preparation of dental students to progress and to be able to provide patient clinical care on one’s own is a fundamental attribute of dental clinical supervisors. The aim of this study was to assess the students’ and clinical teachers’ perceptions about effective clinical teaching and learning in dental education. Methods: The participants of this study were final year dental students and clinical teachers from the Faculty of Dental Medicine, “Ovidius” University of Constanta. A total of 50 students participated in this study. For this study, a questionnaire that explored aspects related to clinical teaching was developed. The current study explored student and clinical teacher views about the clinical teaching from three areas: the clinical teacher-student relationship, the application of educational theory in dental clinical teaching, and skills important for dental clinical practice. Results: Students perceived that clinical experiences are important to their clinical learning, allowing them to see the patient and take more responsibility of their own learning. Students considered that other important things for learning are teachers’ positive attitudes and the ability to create a good supervisory relationship and the learning environment. Conclusions: The study indicates that the dental clinical learning environment supports close perceptual conformity between students and clinical teachers regarding what each group considers to be a good practice in clinical teaching. These factors can be considered when planning and developing dental curricula, to promote effective clinical learning.

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