Kathy Wilson presented ‘Meeting the needs of patients with disabilities – how can we better prepare the new dental graduate?’ at the 24th International Association for Disability and Oral Health congress in August.
Abstract
Background: The dental profession has a social responsibility to provide equitable oral health care for all. This is recognised in the UK, General Dental Council document ‘Preparing for Practice’, which states “…registrants must be able to recognise the needs of all patients, including those with special care requirements”. This raises the question, are we adequately preparing future dental professionals to fulfil their obligations?
Aim: To explore final year dental students’ insight into issues of disability. Research Questions: What are students’ perceptions of their preparedness to meet the needs of patients with disabilities? What has influenced this sense of preparedness?
Method: Two focus groups were employed to address the research questions. Sixteen final year dental students, attending Newcastle School of Dental Sciences participated. The transcriptions were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results: Four themes were identified; ‘perceptions of disability’, ‘experience of disability’, ‘patient management’ and ‘teaching and learning’. Exploring the themes further, it became apparent that levels of preparedness and self-efficacy varied among students. This variation could be attributed to, knowledge of disability issues, previous experience with people with disabilities and how education in SCD was delivered. Students identified the need for more structure to their teaching and increased exposure to the disabled community. Conclusion: The issues identified reflect current literature and highlight the importance of addressing disability within the wider undergraduate curriculum. Responding to the ‘student voice’ has the potential to tailor elements of the Special Care Dentistry programme, to address their educational needs.
Kathy Wilson, Richard Holmes, Kate Bird (School of Dental Science),
Laura Delgaty (School of Medical Education)