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An Interdisciplinary Approach to Case‐Based Teaching: Does It Create Patient‐Centered and Culturally Sensitive Providers?
Author(s) -
Richards Philip S.,
Inglehart Marita R.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2006.70.3.tb04084.x
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , ethnic group , medical education , psychology , perception , cultural diversity , behavioural sciences , section (typography) , medicine , psychotherapist , sociology , computer science , neuroscience , anthropology , operating system
This investigation explored whether teaching a case‐based seminar influenced dental students’ perceptions of the importance of various factors for diagnosis and treatment planning. In addition, the effects of an interdisciplinary approach to case‐based teaching were analyzed. During the winter semesters 2004 and 2005, 204 second‐year dental students participated in a case‐based comprehensive care seminar. The students were randomly assigned either to a section with a behavioral science instructor present or to a section without a behavioral science instructor. At the beginning and end of each semester, the students evaluated the importance of various factors for diagnosis and treatment planning in self‐administered questionnaires. This seminar increased students’ importance ratings of subjective oral health‐related factors (such as dental fear) and diversity‐related factors (such as the patient's ethnicity/race) from the beginning to the end of the semester. Students in the section with a behavioral science instructor rated the importance of behavioral and diversity‐related factors higher than students in the section without the behavioral science instructor. These findings suggest that interdisciplinary, case‐based teaching increased students’ appreciation of the complexity of patient care and of a patient‐centered, culturally sensitive approach to diagnosis and treatment planning.