Students’ Clinical Learning in an Emerging Dental School: An Investigation in International Collaboration Between Michigan and Ghana

Abstract

The dearth of dental faculty members is a widely known problem that is exacerbated in countries that are attempting to begin dental education programs. This collaboration between Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Michigan investigated if dental students who have just started their clinical dental education can learn the knowledge and skills required for identifying and restoring cavitated caries lesions through compact course delivery. There were three instructional blocks: 1) didactic seminar; 2) seminar, simulated hands-on skills instruction, and clinical observation/assisting with treatment of schoolchildren; and 3) seminar, simulated skills training, and application to schoolchildren. Each dental student completed a questionnaire measuring knowledge and perceptions of knowledge, experience, and conidence at ive points in time. The dental students' knowledge increased signiicantly as well as their perceived knowledge, experience, and conidence (p<0.0001). In general, the students showed proiciency in delivering simple treatments. The project showed that an integrated compact course delivery model may assist emerging dental schools to cope with the challenging shortage of resident faculty members.

Interest in international programmes – a survey of Japanese dental hygiene students and educators

“…Not only foreign students but also educators should be invited. A previous study related to international collaboration has suggested that an integrated compact course delivery model may assist in increasing the students’ experience and confidence . In this process, cooperation from international student advisers is essential for inviting foreigners to schools .…”

A Scoping Review of Internationalization of Dental Education—Identifying Formats and Motivations in Dental Education

“…There appears to be an underreporting in the published literature about partnerships in IoDE, indicating limited research of the motivations and outcomes of these partnerships. In the 14 articles with reported partnerships, 4 involved the pairing of a school in the HICs with one or more schools in the LMICs (44,47,58,76).…”