Absolutely fantastic work on your poster. I can tell that a lot of hard work and effort has gone into this, not only from an individual point of view but also as a team. You should all be immensely proud of yourselves. I hope you learned a lot and also had fun at the same time.
I had a question for you…
What do you think will be the impact of COVID-19 on the confidence of the current undergraduates and how could this impact the future dental workforce?
We think the largest impact will be on the clinical side of the course, as teaching at the moment is theory based. A lack of confidence in clinics has the potential to be quite significant, as dentists in practice are almost always in clinics. If this comes across to the public there may be less trust in the dental profession, leading to people cancelling appointments which may result in an overall deterioration in oral health.
I think the undergraduates will be slightly less confident because due to distance teaching, they will have less opportunities to practise their dexterity. The theory of the dentists should be very good but hands-on work must increase to ensure they are all-rounded and able to perform the tasks in real-life scenarios.
Thank you for your responses to my question. I agree that confidence in the current undergraduate cohort has the potential to be reduced due to the current pandemic. A lack of clinical time will not only affect their dexterity skills, but also their communication, diagnostic and treatment planning skills.
In the long term this could result in a less confident (and maybe even skilled) dental workforce.
If we take the current 4th years for example, who will be starting in fifth year in September. They will likely have limited clinical exposure before graduating and undertaking their foundation year.
How could you combat this once they have graduated?
I think the best way forwards in regards to this situation is something that I have heard about from the University of Plymouth, where graduates may be required to take part in either an assessment or refresher course. The aim would be to refresh their clinical skills, which can also include communication etc. Out of techniques I have researched, I feel this will be the most effective as it is a reltively short course so will not delay students in their career progression, but they will feel confident again in their own abilities
I think the best way forwards in regards to this situation is something that I have heard about from the University of Plymouth, where graduates may be required to take part in either an assessment or refresher course. The aim would be to refresh their clinical skills, which can also include communication etc. Out of techniques I have researched, I feel this will be the most effective as it is a reltively short course so will not delay students in their career progression, but they will feel confident again in their own abilities.
Hi Team
Absolutely fantastic work on your poster. I can tell that a lot of hard work and effort has gone into this, not only from an individual point of view but also as a team. You should all be immensely proud of yourselves. I hope you learned a lot and also had fun at the same time.
I had a question for you…
What do you think will be the impact of COVID-19 on the confidence of the current undergraduates and how could this impact the future dental workforce?
Look forward to your replies 🙂
We think the largest impact will be on the clinical side of the course, as teaching at the moment is theory based. A lack of confidence in clinics has the potential to be quite significant, as dentists in practice are almost always in clinics. If this comes across to the public there may be less trust in the dental profession, leading to people cancelling appointments which may result in an overall deterioration in oral health.
I think the undergraduates will be slightly less confident because due to distance teaching, they will have less opportunities to practise their dexterity. The theory of the dentists should be very good but hands-on work must increase to ensure they are all-rounded and able to perform the tasks in real-life scenarios.
Hi Scarlett and James
Thank you for your responses to my question. I agree that confidence in the current undergraduate cohort has the potential to be reduced due to the current pandemic. A lack of clinical time will not only affect their dexterity skills, but also their communication, diagnostic and treatment planning skills.
In the long term this could result in a less confident (and maybe even skilled) dental workforce.
If we take the current 4th years for example, who will be starting in fifth year in September. They will likely have limited clinical exposure before graduating and undertaking their foundation year.
How could you combat this once they have graduated?
I think the best way forwards in regards to this situation is something that I have heard about from the University of Plymouth, where graduates may be required to take part in either an assessment or refresher course. The aim would be to refresh their clinical skills, which can also include communication etc. Out of techniques I have researched, I feel this will be the most effective as it is a reltively short course so will not delay students in their career progression, but they will feel confident again in their own abilities
I think the best way forwards in regards to this situation is something that I have heard about from the University of Plymouth, where graduates may be required to take part in either an assessment or refresher course. The aim would be to refresh their clinical skills, which can also include communication etc. Out of techniques I have researched, I feel this will be the most effective as it is a reltively short course so will not delay students in their career progression, but they will feel confident again in their own abilities.