Dental hygiene education about patients with special needs: a survey of U.S. programs.

The objective of this study was to explore how dental hygiene programs in the United States educate their students about treating patients with special needs. Data were collected from 102 U.S. dental hygiene programs (response rate=49 percent) with a web-based survey. Nearly all programs (98 percent) reported that they present this material in lectures. However, only 42 percent of the programs required students to gain clinical experiences with patients with special needs. Most programs covered the treatment of patients with physical/sensory impairments such as hearing impairments (93.1 percent), psychopathologies (89.2 percent), and adult onset neurological disorders (89.2 percent). Outcome assessments were usually done in a written exam (97.1 percent), while objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) (9.8 percent) and standardized patient experiences (4.9 percent) were less frequently used. Respondents identified "curriculum overload" as the biggest challenge to addressing special patient needs. Nevertheless, 29.4 percent of the respondents indicated that they support an increase in clinical experiences for students to give them increased opportunities to work with patients with special needs. Recent changes in accreditation standards require graduating dental hygiene students to be competent in assessing the treatment needs of special needs patients. Based on the program directors' responses, recommendations can be made to increase the opportunities for students to have clinical experiences with patients with special needs and to address the needs of patients with special needs more comprehensively in dental hygiene curricula.

Dental and dental hygiene students' perceptions of a standardized patient instructor conflict resolution program.

The aim of this study was to examine students' perceptions of the value of a standardized patient instructor conflict resolution program designed to strengthen their communication and confidence during difficult patient conversations. Three cohorts of students at one dental school were part of the study: the dental class of 2013, the dental class of 2014, and the dental hygiene class of 2013. The same groups of students completed surveys immediately following the program and one, two, or three years afterwards. Response rates for the survey immediately after the program were 98 percent (n=99) of the dental class of 2013, 97 percent (n=103) of the dental class of 2014, and 100 percent (n=25) of the dental hygiene class of 2013. Response rates for the subsequent survey were 41.5 percent (n=42) of the dental class of 2013, 74.5 percent (n=79) of the dental class of 2014, and 100 percent (n=25) of the dental hygiene class of 2013. In the results, all students reported a high level of satisfaction in their immediate assessment of the program and its ability to prepare them for conflict situations. They also reported a high level of satisfaction in their retrospective self-assessment of conflict resolution skills. However, their assessment of the program's value and applicability appeared to have diminished over time. This study suggests that the program should continue being a part of both dental and dental hygiene curricula, with more training and guided experiences in self-assessment and perhaps supplemental experiences added.