Oral health educators' reflections on teaching 2022 and beyond.

Introduction: The global pandemic prompted changes in health science education affecting both teaching and learning. This multi-institutional study assesses the near-term implications of these changes on faculty and faculty development. The project goals were to: (1) describe faculty experiences of teaching during the pandemic; (2) identify ways to sustain new pedagogical approaches, (3) describe the types of support faculty members need, and (4) offer recommendations to enhance oral health professions education.

Cultural competency in dental education: developing a tool for assessment and inclusion.

Purpose/objectives: This study aimed to assess the cultural competency content in selected Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) courses and to explore the use of an assessment tool that may be used to standardize the integration of cultural competency in the dental school curriculum.

Methods: A survey was sent to course directors to determine the inclusion of four topics related to cultural competence, the mechanisms of inclusion, and their comfort level in teaching the topics in their courses.  A scan of the same courses was conducted with the use of a tool developed from an Expert Panel's recommendations for knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) to be included in curricula for teaching cultural competence.

Dental education 2026: A scenario exploration.

Purpose: The purpose of the following papers is to explore plausible alternative futures for dental education. The COVID-19 pandemic, challenges emerging from racism in the US, and social unrest were the precipitating factors leading to this consideration of academic dentistry in approximately 5 years.

Methods: In 2020-2021, five teams of six individual followed a seven-step process to develop five different scenarios of dental education in 2026.

Dental faculty well-being amid COVID-19 in fall 2020: A multi-site measure of burnout, loneliness, and resilience.

Purpose/objectives: This study aimed to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental school faculty's self-reported burnout, loneliness, and resilience.

Methods: A 34-item questionnaire composed of three previously validated scales - adapted Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, the brief resilience scale, and a short loneliness scale - and demographic information was sent by email to dental school faculty in four dental schools across the US during the sixth and seventh months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: Two-hundred sixteen (19.

Collaborating and teaching a synchronous, multi-university, virtual course: Health policy and access to dental care.

Purpose: In response to COVID-19, dental educators have been tasked with maintaining the quality of education while reducing cost, increasing efficiency, and leveraging technology.

Methods: This collaborative, multisite virtual health policy course used the Staged Self-Directed Learning Model (SSDL) to lead a diverse group of students studying health policy. Twelve Core sessions were offered with three additional sessions in August or December for a total of 15 total synchronous Zoom sessions that covered policy issues on supply, demand, and need for dental care.

Rural schoolteachers' knowledge about oral health and perceived roles in oral health education.

Objectives: To explore schoolteachers' knowledge about oral health, their perception of their role as oral health educators, and their preparedness to teach oral health in rural public schools.

Methods: We conducted a survey of 119 schoolteachers in four public elementary and middle schools in rural Minnesota during spring semester of 2019. We used descriptive statistics to analyze the data.

Working With Interpreters as a Team in Health Care (WITH Care) Curriculum Tool Kit for Oral Health Professions.

Introduction: Limited English proficiency (LEP) patients face multiple care barriers and disproportionate risks for communication errors. Working with trained interpreters as a health care team can improve communication and drive high-quality care for LEP patients. Simulation and interprofessional education provide key strategies to address the critical training gap that exists at the intersection of patient safety, interprofessional practice, and cultural competence.

Creating and Evaluating Skills-Based Training in Working with Spoken-Language Interpreters for Oral Health Professions Students.

In a multicultural society, the ability to work effectively with spoken-language interpreters is a critical skill for oral health professionals. The aims of this study were to design and evaluate training for oral health professions students to work effectively with interpreters as a health care team. A total of 89 University of Minnesota dental, dental hygiene, and dental therapy students and 41 Century College translating and interpreting students participated in the elective three-hour training from 2016 to 2018.

Using Situated Learning Theory to Build an Interactive Learning Environment to Foster Dental Students' Professionalism: An Ignite Project.

Recognition that professionalism is at the heart of dentistry's contract with society has led to an emphasis on educational strategies designed to improve cultivation of professional behaviors. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a project based on situated learning theory and using an Ignite format to support dental students' learning and promote professionalism. Learning activities were evaluated in terms of new thinking, changing perspectives, and professional relationships.

Identifying Needs to Ensure a Humanistic Academic Dental Environment: A Multi-Site Survey of Dental Students' Perspectives.

Dental school academic environments, whether the overall environment or the smaller environments of the classroom, lab, clinic, or community, are critical to student learning and professional development. The aims of this study were to assess dental students' experiences in the overall academic environment related to discrimination, destructive communication, belittlement, and isolation and to explore the relationships between students' emotional health and such experiences. Dental students in all four years at five U.

The Role of Self- and Peer Assessment in Dental Students' Reflective Practice Using Standardized Patient Encounters.

The aim of this study was to gain insight into the nature of the role played by self- and peer assessment in the development of dental students' reflective practice skills and the value gained through structured encounters with standardized patients. Four standardized patient encounters in an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) format served as a learning experience for students to demonstrate decision making and communication skills in complex scenarios regarding issues of ethics. Self- and peer assessment and peer-to-peer discourse were used to enhance student reflection.

Conversation Salons: A Flexible Format for Open Discourse in Dental Education.

A series of conversation salons was created at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry as an innovative format with the objective of engaging students, faculty, staff, and practitioners in discussion to promote reflection. The aim of this study was to explore the nature of students' abilities in the salons to connect experiences through reflection and apply what they learned to practice. Reflective essays (written during the summer and fall semesters of 2014) from 108 fourth-year dental students (all members of the Class of 2015) were read and assessed for the nature of reflection, number of connections, references to the past, applications to the future, and use of examples.

NEW ACCREDITTATION STANDARD FOR DENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS ON HUMANISTIC ENVIRONMENT.

Dental techniques and materials have changed dramatically in the past few decades, as have the expectations of patients, and the relationships among oral healthcare professionals and those they serve. The most current accreditation standards for dental education require that programs demonstrate success in preparing graduates for these relation- ships. The core approach emerging is that this part of dentistry should be built around humanism or respect for the dignity of all.

A humanistic environment for dental schools: what are dental students experiencing?

A Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) standard now requires that dental schools commit to establishing a "humanistic culture and learning environment" for all members of the academic environment. The aim of this study was to identify students' perceptions of factors that affect the dental school environment and to test differences in their experiences in terms of gender and year. This picture of the existing environment was meant to serve as a first step toward creating and supporting a more humanistic academic environment.