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Clinical simulation in teaching preclinical dentistry
Author(s) -
Suvinen Tuija I.,
Messer Louise Brearley,
Franco Eda
Publication year - 1998
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/j.1600-0579.1998.tb00032.x
Subject(s) - dental education , experiential learning , medical education , virtual reality , virtual patient , medical physics , medicine , dentistry , computer science , psychology , human–computer interaction , mathematics education
Current and projected approaches to dental education have created a wide interest in clinical simulation, and recently there has been a considerable expansion in the availability of experiential learning tools which imitate “real life” clinical conditions in dentistry. These include patient simulation devices such as heads, jaws, teeth and clinical environments, standardized patients, interactive video‐discs and computer‐based instruction. This paper reviews some of the equipment currently available for simulation of clinical procedures, and assesses the initial experiences and responses of 2nd, 3rd and 4th year undergraduate dental students at The University of Melbourne to case‐based simulations in a patient simulator in comparison with preclinical exercises in a traditional bench and mannikin laboratory. Student response to teaching and learning in the simulator over a 3‐year evaluation period, collected via a student questionnaire was uniformly positive. Students were very enthusiastic about the learning environment and educational approach, preferring it to traditional preclinical laboratory instruction.