The benefits of an innovative community engagement model in dental undergraduate education

Abstract

Dental healthcare students at the Peninsula Dental School, University of Plymouth, UK undertake community engagement projects as a core part of their undergraduate curriculum. Students work with their peers to develop a student-led, evidence-based project working with target groups in the local community to address oral health needs. The aim of the programme is to further the students' understanding of health inequalities and the health needs of different groups in the community, while developing skills that will help them deliver holistic dental care as part of their future professional practice. This report highlights our model of education delivery in collaboration with the community, the student-learning outcomes and discusses some of the benefits of this approach including examples of projects that have benefitted the community. We highlight the further work needed to evaluate the longer-term impacts on students of undertaking social accountability programmes.

Community‐basededucation programmes in the context of dental education: A scoping review

“…Three papers published prior to 2002 (n = 3/8, 37.5%) demonstrated that community education programmes peaked in the 1970s and were funded by government grants; the grants were used to incentivise dental schools to develop rotations for their students outside the university in order to broaden dental students' education and serve the community. 40,58,73 17,45,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80] social accountability, 39 a patient-centred and holistic care approach, [18][19][20]25,29,31,34,35,38,56,[64][65][66]68,72,[81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90] civic/ community engagement, 42,47,75,78 professionalism, 17,32,68,80,91 ethical skills/responsibility…”

“…Many papers mentioned more than one term to describe the same activity. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Several definitions of community education were retrieved from the research. As can be seen from Tables 4 and 5, six terms from 22 publications were defined in a variety of ways, both across countries and within the same country for some terms.…”

“…22,101 Most papers mentioned how seeing clinical cases in community settings helps students understand the cultural and social influences on health at individual and population level, but without providing specific strategies to achieve the aims; only four papers mentioned some strategies to achieve some of the aims. 23,39,43,87 Further articles (n = 29/82, 35.3%) illustrated that shifting educational experiences to community settings can also be an opportunity for further development of professional skills, mentioning that exposure to a variety of patients and procedures in community settings can be an opportunity for students to develop confidence, 32,38,51,52,66,70,78,90,91,99,105 increase students' communication skills with patients 17,45,48,51,52,64,65,68,76,80,84,92,93,102,105 and develop teamwork, 19,22,32,40,51,[64][65][66]68,82,84,85,91...…”

Dental education in primary care: 14 years of Peninsula Dental School

“…Learning from and alongside community groups has given students the unique opportunity to gain an understanding of the specific needs and demands of some groups of people that they might not normally have mixed with. 6,7,8 Their interprofessional engagement modules allow for a significant amount of time being spent with disadvantaged communities and other members of the wider healthcare team. As the modules spiral in complexity through the years, there is continuous development of life skills and growth in professionalism, social accountability and understanding of others.…”

'Connecting and compassion matters in dental care'

“…PDSE is a Social Enterprise Community Interest Company (CIC) and it is the only model of its type supporting a university dental school in the UK. 1,2 As a CIC, everything it does is guided by its community purpose to which its assets and profits are dedicated.…”