The Necessity to Review Oral Pathology Curriculum: A need of time

Oral pathology is one of the major basic dental science subject taught to 3rd Year BDS students. Like other basic dental science subjects, oral pathology is gradually emerging as specialty in Pakistan as more students pursue post-graduation opportunities both nationally and internationally. Graduate students are trained according to standard outlines directed at familiarizing them to the pathologies of the oral cavity. However, at the undergraduate level the current oral pathology curriculum currently taught in Pakistan Dental College is quite vague and needs thorough revision. The aim of this article is to make some suggestions for the improvement of the oral pathology curriculum with emphasis on geographical variations of oral diseases worldwide.

future of medical education journal, 2014

Background: oral and maxillofacial pathology is one of the major courses in basic sciences relating dentistry to medicine and is the basis of learning many clinical sciences. Since the periodic evaluation is important in identifying issues and solving them, in this study, students' opinions were used to gather useful information for better planning in this course. The purpose of this study is to investigate students' opinions about oral and maxillofacial pathology course in Mashhad School of Dentistry. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Mashhad School of Dentistry in 2009-2010 academic year. All students attending their third years of study or more, who had taken oral and maxillofacial pathology course and were willing to answer the questions participated the study. The study was done on 250 students, field method was used for data gathering and the data gathering tool was a researcher made questionnaire, and census was used for sampling. After collecting data, they were coded and analyzed by SPSS 13. Results: According to the results of this study, 63.2% of students had complete to relative satisfaction with the theoretical pathology course, and 81.6% had complete to relative satisfaction with the practical pathology course. Students mentioned the diagnosis of oral diseases as the main application of this course. Conclusion: By using students' opinions about Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology course in this study, in addition to improving students' satisfaction by increasing participation and minor modifications in examination methods, we can hope an improvement in teaching quality.

SciDoc Publishers, 2021

With COVID-19 widespread flooding all over the world, the entire medical practice as well as medical education has been effected by this pandemic spread. Efficient and clear understanding of pathology, which the basic science that investigates the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of diseases, during this periodis necessity to orient medical educators in their endeavor in planning new medical curriculum. Aim of study: to evaluatestudents’ perception of pathology coursein the undergraduate stage in Syrian universities. Study design: A survey study for students of medicine and dentistry was conducts using questionnaire that was delivered to the students electronically. Results: 248 responses distributed to 47% of males and 53% of females. Most of them (54.7%) pointed out to the overloaded of curricula with information that is repeated in other courses. Whereas, (50.6%) agreed that the assessment methods are reliable. Still participants revealed not to choose pathology as a future career because they prefer other specialties. Conclusion: We concluded that despite some weaknesses that the teaching of the pathology curricula suffers from, it still retains its importance as a specialty even if some sectors need further modifications, but it maintains many positive points as to the assessment methods and the comprehensiveness of the topics it provides.

Nepal Medical College Journal, 2015

Knowledge regarding oral cavity and diagnosis of diseases is important for a medical student. As patients usually consult their physicians for any disease, a thorough knowledge of oral diseases can help in timely diagnosis and treatment. We designed a study to assess effectiveness of the existing curriculum with regards to confi dence of medical graduates in examination and diagnosis of diseases related to the oral cavity and maxillofacial region. A multi-centric, cross-sectional study was done. Data was collected through self reported questionnaire from three hundred medical students from three universities of Nepal. Frequency, proportion, chi square tests and odds ratios were used to interpret the data to bring the fi nal result. More than half (62.7%) of the medical students were taught to examine oral cavity and a large proportion (57.7%) had performed oral cavity examination on a patient. Among the medical students who did examine oral cavity of patients expressed highest confi dence in diagnosis of dental caries (76.3%) followed by dental abscess (64.2%) and fracture of mandible (51.4%). More than 80 percent of the medical students believed that their training was inadequate with respect to diagnosis of oral diseases and conditions. The perceived inadequacy of curriculum and inability to diagnose majority of oral/dental conditions points towards the need for improvement and innovation in existing pattern of under graduate medical education in Nepal with respect to oral health.

European Journal of Dental Education, 2004

European Journal of Dental Education, 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyse and compare the perceived relevance of oral biology with dentistry as reported by dental students and interns and to investigate the most popular teaching approach and learning resource. Methods: A questionnaire aiming to ask about the relevance of oral biology to dentistry , most popular teaching method and learning resource was utilised in this study. Study groups encompassed second-year dental students who had completed their course and dental interns. The data were obtained and analysed statistically. Results: The overall response rate for both groups was 60%. Both groups reported high relevance of oral biology to dentistry. Perception of dental interns regarding the relevance of oral biology to dentistry was higher than that of students. Both groups identified student presentations as the most important teaching method. Amongst the most important learning resources, textbooks were considered most imperative by interns, whereas lecture handouts received the highest importance score by students. Conclusions: Dental students and interns considered oral biology to be relevant to dentistry, although greater relevance was reported by interns. Year-wise advancement in dental education and training improves the perception of the students about the relevance of oral biology to dentistry.

2014

Nasrollah Saghravanian, Shadi Saghafi, Monavar Afzal Aghai, Masoud Hoseini, Mohammad Aliabadi 1 Maxillofacial Diseases Research Center, Faculty of Dentistry, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IRAN 2 Biostatistics and Epidemiology group, Health Faculty, Mashhad University Of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IRAN 3 School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 4 Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IRAN 5 Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IRAN

The Professional Medical Journal, 2022

Objectives: To determine frequency of students’ perceptions (satisfaction) regarding teaching effectiveness, feedback of assessment mode and suggestions for improvement in pathology teaching technique in a medical college. Study Design: Cross-sectional Study. Setting: Medical & Dental College Islamabad. Period: January 2017 to June 2017. Material & Methods: A total of 224 students, who were going to appear for their professional examination were included in the study. Approval from the institutional ethical committee was taken. A set of questions on T/L practices and the suggested modifications were incorporated into the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used in the form of frequency distribution and data was analyzed by utilizing percentages. Results: Study demonstrated that female participants were more than male students. The subject of pathology was found to be interesting by majority of the students and it was consented that knowledge about pathology helps in clinical ...

The Professional Medical Journal

Objective: To explore the perceptions of the dental faculty regarding the changes required with regards to subjects, the teaching methodology, assessment and innovative recommendations in Pakistan. Study Design: Qualitative Research Project. Setting: Riphah International University, Rawalpindi. Period: February 2019 till July 2019. Material & Methods: In which 13 dental faculty members with post graduate degrees in Medical/Dental Education in addition to the Dental Specialties were selected via a purposive sampling technique for semi-structured one to one interview. Data was collected from 8 various institutes. The protocol for thematic data analysis was utilized. Explanatory, exploratory and interpretative approaches of content analysis were employed to screen out prominent and relevant concepts and emergent themes. Results: Participants reported that many new subjects need to be incorporated. A uniform curriculum all over the country is required. The content of subjects needs to ...

Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education, 2017

Background: Bachelor of dental surgery course curricula need to be constantly analyzed and evaluated in order to offer dental courses in accordance with current technical innovations of dentistry as well as the demands of community oral health. Under the assumption that it is important to comprehend some students' perceptions, the present study aims to analyze students' perceptions regarding dental courses, embracing the academic environment, and describe the current scientific published literature about this research object. Specifically, it aims to access and synthesize the scientific knowledge involving students' perceptions regarding dental courses, by means of constructing thematic categories classifying its levels of evidences. Objectives: The present study was undertaken to identify the teachers and students perception about the present status of undergraduate dental curriculum in Bangladesh. Methods: This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted in seven public and private dental colleges of Bangladesh after getting written permission from the principal of the respective dental colleges. Voluntary participation of the students was ensured and the names of the students' as well as teachers were kept confidential. The teachers and students of final years from the different dental colleges were the study population; among them four hundred (400) students and one hundred twenty teachers (120) were taken as sample by convenient sampling. Data collection instrument was a semistructured questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale with maximum score 5 and minimum score1for final year students' and in depth interview was used for teachers. Results: 87% teachers mentioned that the total hours for practical/clinical classes in individual subject are inadequate. 63 % teachers mentioned that the total hours for lecture classes in individual subject are inadequate. The overall results regarding the competency acquired by the newly passed dental graduate from the BDS course was satisfactory but some problematic areas were highlighted which interfered in achieving their satisfaction on their competencies Conclusion: In this study, the students reported that they have acquired greater practical and clinical experiences in few areas from the curriculum of BDS course. The majority of the students were not satisfied on their acquired competencies in most of the areas after their graduation. This was due to shortage of course duration in comparison to number of subjects and contents, improper distributions of the subjects, inadequate duration of community placement, less allocation of hours in practical and clinical classes etc. According to their opinion, lack of supervision and feedback in the clinical class, improper method of clinical assessment system of the students in all level are the responsible factors so that the students were not satisfied with the overall undergraduate BDS curriculum.