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Effectiveness of interventions to promote continuing professional development for dentists
Author(s) -
Best Helen A,
Messer Louise Brearley
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
european journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1600-0579
pISSN - 1396-5883
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0579.2003.00293.x
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , delphi method , test (biology) , professional development , intervention (counseling) , promotion (chess) , formative assessment , receipt , medicine , medical education , continuing professional development , nursing , psychology , pedagogy , computer science , law , biology , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , politics , world wide web , political science
Background: Continuing education is incumbent upon dentists as health professionals, but its promotion may be required, particularly in order to ensure regular professional updating. Continuing professional development may be delivered in a variety of ways, and new strategies and techniques must be evaluated for effectiveness. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions utilizing the philosophies and techniques of the discipline of Quality Improvement. Method: A self‐assessment instrument (a manual) for quality dental practice was developed using the Delphi technique. A randomized, controlled trial of the interventions was conducted under field conditions for dental practice in Victoria, Australia. Dentists in Test Groups 1 and 2 completed the self‐assessment manual, and received relevant references and their own scores for the manual in comparison with empirical standards. Dentists in Test Group 1 also attended a continuing education course on Quality Improvement. Dentists in Control Group 1 completed the manual only and received feedback of their scores. Dentists in Test Groups 1 and 2, and in Control Group 1 completed the manual again after 1 year as a post‐intervention follow‐up. Dentists in Control Group 2 completed the manual only at 1 year. Results: The intervention involving self‐assessment, receipt of scores and references for the manual resulted in modest improvements in total scores for dentists after 1 year, although a response bias was apparent. Conclusion: An effective method of facilitating change in quality dental practice was identified. Assessment of strategies and techniques for professional development of dentists should include observation of patterns of participation.