Leadership development for early-career educators: Association report on the ADEA summer program for emerging academic leaders.

There is a continuous challenge in academic health education to retain early career faculty members and staff. Attrition rates in the field can be as high as 42% in the first five years of an individual's career and are principally due to a sense that academic careers do not progress at a satisfactory rate. In response to this ongoing issue, the American Dental Education Association launched the Summer Program for Emerging Academic Leaders (ADEA EL) in 2012. The program has supported 301 participants from over 74 academic programs and private practice institutions. This current study describes data collected from program participants in an effort to conduct a thorough review of the program. In all, pre- and post-program data were assessed from faculty members and staff who have participated in the program over its eight-year history. The outcomes of this mixed-methods study describe an assessment of the curriculum (including changes that have occurred over the tenure of the program), the fit of the intended learning outcomes, reasons why a program such as the ADEA EL is needed, and what can be done to provide additional leadership resources and support for faculty members in dental education. This study represents the first time a longitudinal report of a professional development program designed exclusively for early-career faculty and staff has been described in the literature. Its outcomes are intended to be supportive of institutions and other programs focused on support and retention of early faculty and staff.

Comparison of e-mail communication skills among first- and fourth-year dental students.

As e-mail and other forms of electronic communication increase in popularity, it is important for dental schools to consider a curriculum that prepares their graduates to understand and apply effective electronic communication strategies to their patients. Reflecting this shift in communication behavior, the American Medical Association has developed specific e-mail communication guidelines. Some behavioral examples in these guidelines include protecting patients' protected health information (PHI), ensuring proper record keeping, and using professional, courteous, and understandable language. In this study, a sample of first- and fourth-year dental students (n=160) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine participated in an assignment assessing their patient-provider e-mail communication skills. A rubric was used to evaluate and compare the data between dental student classes. The results reveal a generalized lack of compliance with several of these guidelines by both classes (e.g., failure to protect PHI), despite efforts to expose students to these concepts in the curriculum. In an effort to train emerging dentists to function in a rapidly changing technological environment, these findings suggest a need for growth and development of curricula and perhaps guidelines/recommendations for behavioral competencies regarding dental students' use of electronic communication in the patient care environment.

Sealants and dental caries: insight into dentists' behaviors regarding implementation of clinical practice recommendations.

BACKGROUND: The authors conducted a qualitative study of private-practice dentists in their offices by using vignette-based interviews to assess barriers to the use of evidence-based clinical recommendations in the treatment of noncavitated carious lesions. METHODS: The authors recruited 22 dentists as a convenience sample and presented them with two patient vignettes involving noncavitated carious lesions. Interviewers asked participants to articulate their thought processes as they described treatment recommendations. Participants compared their treatment plans with the American Dental Association's recommendations for sealing noncavitated carious lesions, and they described barriers to implementing these recommendations in their practices. The authors recorded and transcribed the sessions for accuracy and themes. RESULTS: Personal clinical experience emerged as the determining factor in dentists' treatment decisions regarding noncavitated carious lesions. Additional factors were lack of reimbursement and mistrust of the recommendations. The authors found that knowledge of the recommendations did not lead to their adoption when the recommendation was incongruent with the dentist's personal experience. CONCLUSIONS: The authors found that ingrained practice behavior based on personal clinical experience that differed substantially from evidence-based recommendations resulted in a rejection of these recommendations. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Attempts to improve the adoption of evidence-based practice must involve more than simple dissemination of information to achieve a balance between personal clinical experience and scientific evidence.

The endangered clinical teacher-scholar: a promising update from one dental school.

Clinical dental faculty members' lack of scholarly activity not only impacts their ability to be promoted and retained in their institutions but limits the contributions they could make to clinical discovery. Contributing factors to this situation include the lack of purposeful mentoring and the widespread faculty shortages, which increase faculty workloads. One way to address this challenge is to develop and implement formal mentoring programs, endorsed by the dental school's administration, that use reward structures in which novice clinical faculty members are teamed with faculty members experienced in scholarly activity. The Clinical Research Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine has been in existence since 2008. Preliminary data from this program suggest that this has been a successful plan for increasing the scholarly activity of the clinical teacher-scholar. Although not without limitations, this program may serve as a model for other schools to consider as they encourage their own clinical faculty members to undertake research initiatives. Similar programs at dental schools across the country can enhance discovery, research, and treatment by expanding the number of researchers who are addressing the public's oral and systemic health needs.

Social media in dental education: a call for research and action.

Social media are part of the fabric of today's world, from which health care is not excluded. Based on its distribution capacity, a single individual can cause an amount of damage to an institution that only a few decades ago required access to a mainstream news media outlet. Despite the obvious parallels in professional standards in the medical and dental communities, the scholarly activity and resulting collegial discourse observed among medical professionals remain unmatched in the dental education literature. As a result, a rigorous research agenda on the topic is indicated. Once these results are evaluated and thoroughly vetted, actions should be tailored to address the needs, minimize the threats, and maximize the opportunities that have been already noted by the medical profession. Regardless of input, albeit internal or external, a cadre of individuals who are willing to develop philosophy, policy, and procedure related to the use of social media policies in dental education can then be identified to evaluate the issues unique to the institution and perhaps the profession.

Self-report of latex allergy by patients visiting a dental clinic.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of latex allergy among dental patients is not known, although it has been increasing in the population since 1982, when the use of gloves was expanded to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken of 1,798 electronic health records (EHRs) of new clinic patients who registered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine (SDM) dental clinic between January and June 2010. Data extracted from the EHRs included age, gender, and a history of a previous latex reaction, asthma, or allergy to penicillin. RESULTS: A previous reaction to latex was reported by 59 patients (3.3%). Women were almost three times more likely to report this (4.7% versus 1.6%, P = 0.0005). Histories of asthma or penicillin allergy in women were significantly associated with latex allergy (P = 0.0005 and P = 0.0001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The reported rate of a previous reaction to latex in this patient sample was higher than that of the general population. This may, in part, be related to repeated exposures to latex-containing gloves. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Practitioners are increasingly likely to encounter patients who have had a reaction to latex. Non-latex products must be available for these patients, who are more likely to be women and individuals with asthma or an allergy to penicillin.

Rubrics 101: a primer for rubric development in dental education.

Identifying and implementing effective methods for assessing dental student performance are ongoing challenges for dental educators. Questions related to grading and assessment are common among faculty and students alike. Faculty members who are well-trained clinicians or scientists often have little formal training in education. In addition, assessment of performance brings with it an element of subjectivity. Questions about assessment and grading are most likely to arise when expectations are unclear or the rationale for the grade awarded is not articulated. The authors propose that one solution to assessment dilemmas can be found in the use of rubrics: scaled tools with levels of achievement and clearly defined criteria placed in a grid. Rubrics establish clear rules for evaluation and define the criteria for performance. Rubrics speak to both teaching and learning expectations and outcomes and can provide faculty members with a tool that can be useful in evaluating dental student performance. Rubrics can also provide students with clear expectations of performance, an opportunity to self-assess, and timely, detailed feedback. The purpose of this article is to define a rubric, apply the steps of rubric development as described in the educational literature to dental student assessment, present two examples of rubric implementation for assessing student progress toward competence, and recommend electronic resources for rubric development.

The rise in prescription drug abuse: raising awareness in the dental community.

Prescription drugs classified as controlled dangerous substances are essential therapeutic modalities in treating a variety of healthcare conditions; however, their pleasurable side effects can appeal to patients for uses other than their intent. As a result, unfortunate consequences of prescription drug use can arise. Misuse or abuse of prescription drugs can contribute to addictive behaviors, serious health risks, and potentially, death. It is imperative that the dental community remains educated and informed of nationwide healthcare trends, and prescription drug abuse is no exception. Ethically, dentists should be able to respond in a manner that addresses the best interests of their patients. To respond appropriately, dentists need to understand the terminology of prescription drug abuse; be able to identify and describe the drugs most often misused or abused; be able to identify individuals who may be at risk for prescription drug abuse; and be prepared to manage patients at risk in the dental setting.