Publications by authors named "Ashley Towers"

Objective: To assess the perceptions of novice and experienced undergraduate dental students of virtual learning with two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) vision.

Materials And Methods: This qualitative study involved 21 students from the second and fourth years of a 5-year BDS program. They first performed three operative tasks in virtual reality (VR) training sessions using both 2D and 3D vision.

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Purpose/objectives: The aim of this study was to quantitatively investigate the impact of stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) vision on students' performance when compared with that of two-dimensional (2D) vision in a 3D virtual reality (VR) simulator.

Methods: Twenty-four dental students (second- and fourth-year BDS) were assigned to perform three operative tasks under 3D and 2D viewing conditions on a Virteasy (HRV) simulator. Groups were crossed over and all students performed the same tasks under the alternate viewing conditions.

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Background: Chest X-ray (CXR) has typically been the main investigation in children with suspected respiratory pathology. Recent advances in lung point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) have shown the potential for it to be comparative, if not better, than CXR. The objective of this study was to compare CXR with lung POCUS in children with respiratory illness in a ward-based setting at a paediatric teaching hospital.

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The past two years have prompted significant changes with regards to how healthcare is both taught and delivered. There has been a shift towards remote healthcare interventions where appropriate. As we return towards pre-pandemic practice, we must recognise that the healthcare environment has permanently changed.

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Introduction: Students face a number of challenges in translating the skills acquired in pre-clinical simulation environments to the delivery of real patient care. These are particularly emphasised for complex operative procedures such as tooth preparations for indirect restorations. This paper reports student perceptions of a novel approach designed to improving student confidence when undertaking operative procedures on patients for the first time, by providing patient-specific simulation using virtual reality (VR) and 3D-printed models of the student's real clinical case.

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This paper reports on the recent activity of the pan-European consensus of the ADEE Special Interest Group for Pre-Clinical Operative Skills. Following the previous recommendations from the group, and in order to support teachers and to harmonise the delivery of skills training across Europe, a more formal curriculum relating to pre-clinical operative skills needs to be created. This paper reports European consensus surrounding the categorisation (level of importance, and difficulty) of basic operative dental clinical skills within the undergraduate curriculum and provides recommendations relating to session structure and timing of curricular elements for basic operative dental clinical skills teaching.

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Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) dental simulators are gaining momentum as a useful tool to educate dental students. To date, no VR dental simulator exercise has been designed which is capable of reliably providing validated, meaningful clinical feedback to dental students. This study aims to measure the concurrent validity of the assessment and the provision of qualitative feedback, pertaining to cavity preparations by VR dental simulators.

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Introduction Specialist consultant services in the UK NHS provide a decision-making support service to other health professionals. There is a drive to deliver this service in a more patient-centred, cost-effective and efficient manner. Remote clinical consultations (RCC), using secure, live, super-fast internet connectivity and high-resolution, multi-channel audio-visual streaming, has the potential for the delivery of this service.

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Introduction Virtual reality (VR) is gaining recognition as a valuable tool for training dental students and its use by dental schools around the world is growing. It is timely to review the literature relating to the use of VR in dental education, in order to ensure that educators are well-informed of current areas of inquiry, and those requiring further investigation, to enable appropriate decisions about whether to employ VR as a teaching tool. Method A scoping review using the method outlined by Arksey and O'Malley was conducted.

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Background And Objective: Our group created and routinely reviewed a dedicated prostate intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) delivery program. Previously, a retrospective review of our experience demonstrated that a larger bladder volume reduced radiation dose to the rectum. We conducted an observational study to confirm this relationship.

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