Objectives To identify dental students’ perceptions of stress over returning to in‐person clinical training after remote learning required from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Methods This was a qualitative observational study. The sample was composed of undergraduate students ( n = 47) in the final year of São Paulo State University, School of Dentistry, Araraquara program. The data were collected using a questionnaire created in Google Forms. The data was analyzed using the discourse of the collective subject technique. Results More than half of the students (63.8%) reported experiencing stress in the transition from remote learning to clinical training. According to the students, the main causes of this stress were fear of COVID‐19 infection or contamination (31.5%) and insecurity in their clinical treatment skills after having gone so long without training (25.5%). Half of the students surveyed (51.1%) exhibited at least one stress‐related symptom. For most of the students (70.2%), remote learning was insufficient to prepare them for returning to in‐person clinical activities. Performing laboratory pre‐clinical activities prior to clinical training was the suggestion most frequently cited by the students (25.5%), as a way to avoid some of the stress associated with their return to in‐person learning. The main coping strategies adopted by the students upon their return to in‐person learning were making the most of their clinical training, planning cases, and studying relevant topics before treating patients (48.9%). Conclusion The dental students perceived high levels of stress during the transition from remote learning to clinical training.

Objectives The present study sought to qualitatively evaluate third‐year undergraduate dental students' perceptions of sources of stress during the transition from preclinical to clinical training. Methods This was an observational, cross‐sectional, and qualitative study with a nonprobabilistic sampling design. The sample consisted of students in the third year of the five‐year undergraduate degree program in dentistry offered by the São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Dentistry, Araraquara, São Paulo State, Brazil (n = 37). Data were collected using open‐ended, semistructured, and individual interviews that were recorded on a digital voice recorder. The students were interviewed on campus at a previously scheduled time. Efforts were made to provide a secure and welcoming environment for the interview. The interview questions addressed students' adaptation to clinical training and their perceptions of stress resulting from this transition. Data analysis was based on the qualitative and quantitative Discourse of the Collective Subject (DCS) technique performed with the aid of Qualiquantisoft®. Results Most of the students evaluated (75.7%) reported difficulty in the transition from the preclinical to the clinical phase of their program and that this difficulty increased their stress levels during this transition (81.1%). The most frequently cited reason for the increase in stress was the responsibility and demands associated with caring for real patients (54.1%). Almost half of the students (48.6%) reported feeling physical symptoms of stress such as tachycardia, dizziness, headache, and muscle tension during this period. Most of the students (81.1%) required up to one semester to feel that they had adapted to the clinic. Many students used stress reduction strategies such as simply trying to calm down, studying before their clinical work, improving organisation, and asking professors for help. Adaptation to ergonomics and biosafety in the clinic was the most frequently cited impediment (45.9%) to the adaptation process. The students' main suggestions for reducing stress in this transition phase were additional preclinical training in a clinical setting, a more gradual transition, and greater professor receptiveness. Conclusion The dental students interviewed herein perceived high levels of stress during the transition from preclinical to clinical training.

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of third-year dental students regarding the application of ergonomic principles in the transition between preclinical and clinical training in Restorative Dentistry. Methods We conducted a qualitative observational cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of forty-six third-year dental students at São Paulo State University (Unesp), School of Dentistry, Araraquara. Data was collected using an individual interview recorded on a digital voice recorder. A script containing questions related to the process of adaptation of students to clinical care with a view to ergonomic work posture was used. Data analysis was based on the quali-quantitative technique of Discourse of the Collective Subject (DCS), using Qualiquantisoft®. Results Most students (97.80%) perceived the need for an adaptation period in the transition from the preclinic to the clinic regarding ergonomic posture requirements; a part of them (45.65%) claimed that they still could not adapt, primarily due to the difference between the laboratory and clinic in the workstation (50.00%). Some students suggested longer preclinical training in a clinical environment to facilitate this transition (21.74%). The dental stool (32.60%) and the dental chair (21.74%) were the external factors that contributed most to making this transition difficult. The difficulty of the restorative dentistry procedure (10.87%) also interfered with posture. Additionally, the most challenging ergonomic posture requirements in the transition period were maintaining 30 to 40 cm between the patient’s mouth and operator’s eyes (45.65%), positioning the patient in the dental chair correctly (15.22%), and working with the elbows close to the body (15.22%). Conclusion Most students perceived the need for an adaptation period in the preclinical transition to the clinic, attributing difficulties to adopt the ergonomic posture requirements, to use the workstation and to perform the procedures on real patients.