Impact of Evidence‐Based Dentistry Workshops on Educators’ Use of Evidence in Teaching and Practice: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The aims of this pilot study were to evaluate the short-term impact of evidence-based dentistry (EBD) workshops on educators' use of clinical evidence in their clinical practice and educational activities and to identify barriers they encountered in implementing evidence in their teaching and clinical practice. Between April 2012 and January 2014, a series of EBD workshops was delivered to 31 dental faculty members and postdoctoral students at three Canadian dental schools. Survey I, assessing participants' perceptions of various aspects of the workshops, was administered immediately following the workshops. Survey II, evaluating the impact of the workshops on participants' EBD implementation, was conducted 10 to 31 months after their completion. Survey I was completed by all 31 participants (100% response rate); their mean scores ranged from 3.94 to 4.65 on a five-point scale. Survey II was completed by 20 participants (64.5% response rate; five postdoctoral students and 15 faculty members), using an online 20-item questionnaire. Of the respondents, 19 (95%) reported implementing EBD in their professional activities at that time, and 14 (70%) stated that the workshops had positively helped with EBD implementation. Eight respondents (40%) reported having experienced barriers to EBD implementation, while 15 (75%) reported that their patients/students welcomed use of EBD. The respondents reported believing that strategies such as increasing EBD education and dissemination and improving quality and accessibility of evidence would facilitate the transition to EBD practice. Reported barriers to EBD implementation included resistance and criticism from colleagues, difficulty in changing current practice model, and lack of time.

How do dental faculty members relate to Evidence-Based Dentistry?

“…Experiences of implementation of an EBD curriculum throughout a 4-years period have been successfully reported, with dental students and faculty members becoming increasingly aware and supportive of using the EBD model in daily practice 19,20 . Other study reported improved skills from faculty members to critically appraise evidence and implementation of the model in their practices after a set of workshops based on recommendations of the American Dental Association (ADA) 9 . When it comes to teaching EBD elements, multifaceted educational interventions have been shown to improve the overall competence and confidence of health students towards EBP 21 .…”

“…Although most dental faculty members acknowledge the importance of teaching EBD, barriers such as time, knowledge, and resources have been indicated in the process to successfully implement EBD in the dental curriculum 8 . Also, criticism and resistance to change of the current teaching practice have been recognized as barriers originated by part of the faculty members, along with the claim that it is difficult to convince people about the existence of evidence on a particular topic 9 .…”

Integration of an evidence‐based caries management approach in dental education: The perspectives of dental instructors

“…[14][15][16][17] When dental instructors have been involved as stakeholders in research, the literature has mostly focused on assessing their knowledge and attitudes regarding EBCM. [18][19][20] Studies suggest that practitioners experience a lack of knowledge of EBCM, 18,19 face time limitations for its implementation, deal with resistance from other practitioners, and have challenges in transitioning their current practice models. 20,21 To our knowledge, there remains limited evidence on dental instructors' perceptions on the overall implementation of EBCM in dental education.…”

“…[18][19][20] Studies suggest that practitioners experience a lack of knowledge of EBCM, 18,19 face time limitations for its implementation, deal with resistance from other practitioners, and have challenges in transitioning their current practice models. 20,21 To our knowledge, there remains limited evidence on dental instructors' perceptions on the overall implementation of EBCM in dental education. Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence on how clinical instructors experience the complex changes in the cariology curriculum.…”

“…To date, most research concerning the implementation of EBCM in undergraduate dental education has been based on descriptive surveys focusing on specific aspects of this approach, such as communication of caries preventive strategies 13 and risk‐based caries assessment 14–17 . When dental instructors have been involved as stakeholders in research, the literature has mostly focused on assessing their knowledge and attitudes regarding EBCM 18–20 . Studies suggest that practitioners experience a lack of knowledge of EBCM, 18,19 face time limitations for its implementation, deal with resistance from other practitioners, and have challenges in transitioning their current practice models 20,21 .…”