Cited by 54
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Publishes on Innovations in Medical Education, Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes, Evaluation of Teaching Practices. 3 papers and 103 citations.
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This study determined the effect of a clinical program driven by patient needs upon students' productivity, attitudes, and academic performance. A group of eight senior students, whose academic and clinical performance profile replicated that of the rest of the class, were chosen to participate in a year-long non-requirement clinic. The students were expected to attend all clinic sessions, and treat their assigned patients. Their performance was compared to that of classmates in the regular requirement-driven curriculum. The non-requirement group had significantly higher academic achievement and significantly outproduced their classmates. Non-requirement students had no state board failures, versus 17 percent in the regular curriculum, and reported significantly lower stress. This study suggests that predoctoral clinical programs can maintain quality and productivity in the absence of unit requirements.
Learning style is defined as an individual's preferred way of acquiring information. The purpose of this study was to determine the predominant learning styles of dental students in five consecutive classes and to determine the extent of the match or mismatch between student learning styles and faculty learning styles. Results indicate that a majority of students in the dental school classes possess one particular learning style--concrete sequential. Although slight differences did exist between the distributions of learning styles of the faculty and the dental school classes, the differences were not significant. Previous research has demonstrated that the typical dental school graduate has attributes similar to the concrete sequential learner. Based on this finding, it seems likely that most concrete sequential learners will adapt well to the private practice environment. An important question, however, is whether the contemporary dental school environment, which seems to encourage concrete sequential learning style, is conducive to the development of the intellectual and technical skills that dentists will need to practice in the 21st century.