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Information retrieval, critical appraisal and knowledge of evidence‐based dentistry among Finnish dental students
Author(s) -
Nieminen P.,
Virtanen J. I.
Publication year - 2017
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 - 10.1111/eje.12203
Subject(s) - critical appraisal , curriculum , evidence based dentistry , medical education , scientific evidence , psychology , dental education , medicine , critical thinking , medline , evidence based medicine , scientific literature , alternative medicine , pedagogy , pathology , paleontology , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law , biology
Background One of the core skills of competent dentist is the ability to search and analyse high‐quality evidence. Problems in understanding the basic aspects of knowledge‐based information may impede its implementation into clinical practice. We examined how Finnish dental students acquire scientific information and how familiar they are with methods for evaluating scientific evidence related to clinical questions. Methods All fifth‐year dental students ( n = 120) at the three universities in Finland received a self‐administered questionnaire. Results The three most commonly used sources of information were colleagues, the commercial Health Gate Portal for dental practitioners and personal lecture notes. Although students rarely read scientific journals, they did find that they possess at least passable or even good skills in literature retrieval. Three questions related to the appraisal of evidence in dentistry revealed that students' knowledge of evidence‐based dentistry was inadequate to critically evaluate clinical research findings. Conclusion Most students seem to lack knowledge of key methodological evidence‐based terms. The present curricula in dental schools fail to encourage the students to search and acquire knowledge wider than their patients themselves do. Universities have the responsibility to teach dentists various methods of critical appraisal to cope with scientific information.