Student/Patient Determination of an Effective Clinical Learning Environment

The effectiveness of teaching and learning in the clinical learning environment and how it prepares dental students to independently provide patient care is a central concern in dental education. The underlying theory for this study is to determine the current strengths of clinical teaching, the learning experiences of students, and the patients' experiences in dental education. There is growing awareness that learners' responses to and views of their educational experiences are important in modifying the educational process. Objective: The primary purpose of this study was to describe the instructional practices among clinical dental educators as they pertain to student and patient involvement and the secondary purpose was to describe the interactions between the teacher, student, and patient during clinical teaching. The study examined the students and patients perspective of the dental clinical teaching environment. This study focused on the oral health care educator–patient–student relationship and the learning experience in comprehensive oral health care. Methods: Data collection included patient and student interviews. The participants were comprehensive care patients at the UF College of Dentistry and student dentists in the class 2008. There were 40 student/patient interviews completed. Results: The results provided three context groups for ideal clinical teaching environments: student attributes, characteristics of teaching/learning, and desirable characteristics of clinical teachers. Conclusion: Students prefer a learning environment that emphasizes the student-patient-education relationship promoting good rapport and respect. The clinical educator should be professional, competent and consistent with treatment and evaluation utilizing teaching techniques such as demonstration and providing accurate, comprehensive feedback in a positive emotional manner. Patient preferences were positive but did not contribute any specific information to improve or complement current clinical teaching. This research was supported by a UFCD Student Summer Research Fellowship and The Kerr Corporation.