Evaluation of Clinical Exodontia Skills of Final Year Students at a Dental School in Karachi

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The study was conducted to assess the clinical exodontia skills of final year dental students using the Assessment-of-Clinical-Exodontia-Skills (ACES) rating scale during their posting in the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, and to determine the improvement in clinical exodontia skills after targeted teaching sessions and demonstrations. METHODOLOGY: An interventional cross-sectional study was performed on undergraduate students of final year at Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health and Sciences from October 2019 to May 2020. Both male and female students were included. Students from other academic years, universities, and departments along with the non-consenting students were excluded. They were assessed during their exodontia procedure on their first day of rotation using an ACES rating scale and repeated on the last day of the rotation. Two-tailed Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test was used to compare the scores of the first and last day. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: Only 9.4% of students cleared their assessment on the first day of their clinical rotation. However, 70% of students were able to clear it on their last day's assessment. Significant improvement from the first to last day of the clinical rotation was noted in the scores of five main competencies in the ACES rating scale and overall result (p < .001). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the induction of the ACES rating scale in an interactive environment proved to be a promising approach giving a deep insight into the student’s capabilities and additional emphasis required to steer them towards independent practice.

Keywords

• oral & maxillofacial surgery
• final-year dental students
• exodontia skills
• clinical competency