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July-December 2011 Volume 1 | Issue 2
Page Nos. -
Online since Thursday, November 22, 2012
Accessed 81,634 times.
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GUEST EDITORIAL |
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Education in forensic dentistry in India |
p. 45 |
Ashith B Acharya DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103672 |
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REVIEW ARTICLE |
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Appropriateness of using oral examination as an assessment method in medical or dental education |
p. 46 |
Ghousia Rahman DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103674 This paper describes the appropriateness of using oral examination as an assessment method in medical or dental education. It highlights the rationale for using oral exam and it also discusses the usefulness of adopting oral exam as an assessment tool. Oral Examination is a form of assessment where a set of stimulus questions are developed that address critical areas of knowledge or sets of abilities related to a competency or set of competencies. Students are expected to respond verbally in their own words, which allow an assessment of the student's depth of comprehension, and capacity to apply knowledge and insights to different situations. Responses to the questions are assessed using a rating scale or scoring system. In practice, oral exams were used not as a substitute, but as a complement to written exams. They are a way to ask what is not feasible through the written format. The paper reviews literature to explore the strengths and weaknesses of using an oral exam as an assessment tool. The paper concludes by offering a set of alternatives and recommendations to improve the utility of the oral exam methodology. Substantial work, however, is needed to develop the traditional oral examination into a 'best practice oral' format appropriate for medical or dental education.
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES |
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Knowledge and attitude towards swine influenza (2009) among dental practitioners in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India |
p. 52 |
Sudhakar Kaipa, Venkatarao Epari, Sandhya Gupta DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103675 Background: The practice of dentistry exposes dentists to a variety of micro-organisms that are transmittable via blood, oral or respiratory secretions. Recent outbreak of swine flu virus has posed a greater risk of occupational transmission to dentists as it can spread through the aerosols. In our study, we assessed the knowledge and attitude of dentists regarding swine flu (2009) in Nellore, India.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted during November and December 2009 in the south Indian district of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. Self-administered, anonymous, multiple-choice type study questionnaire elicited information from 220 Dentists across the district.
Results: The Mean (±Standard Deviation, S.D) scores of knowledge and attitude were 37.92 (±5.63) and 11.34 (±2.51) from the maximum scores of 52 and 20 respectively. After adjusting for other variables, multivariable linear regression analysis showed gender, location and qualification of the participant contributing significantly to the knowledge score indicating a male participant, who is from urban area with higher qualification, had better knowledge. Attitude scores were not associated with any of the variables at significant level.
Conclusion: Although the knowledge level seems to be moderately high, there were some note-worthy yet disturbing gaps in knowledge. This study showed that the dentists' attitude towards swine flu was satisfactory. Emphasis during undergraduate teaching and continuous dental educational campaigns regarding infectious diseases are recommended for the dentists, as preparedness for future disease outbreaks. |
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Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and attitude of dental students towards HIV/AIDS patients: A cross-sectional survey |
p. 59 |
Prashant B Patil, V Sreenivasan, Ankit Goel DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103676 Background: The HIV epidemic poses significant challenges to the healthcare providers including dentists. The present study is aimed to estimate the knowledge of HIV/AIDS and the attitude of dental students towards HIV/AIDS patients and to know whether knowledge has any influence on the attitude and willingness to treat HIV/AIDS patients.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out on 219 dental students studying at the Subharti Dental College and Hospital, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The students completed a predesigned self-administered questionnaire assessing the knowledge, attitude and willingness to treat HIV/AIDS patients. The data were analyzed using ANOVA test (all the results are calculated at 1% level of significance) and Pearson correlation test.
Results: The total mean knowledge score was 76.5% (excellent knowledge). There was a significant difference in knowledge among the third-year, final-year students and internees, which was found to be statistically significant (P>0.001%). The study showed that the overall mean attitude score was 62.9% (negative attitude). There was no significant difference in the attitude of the students among the three groups (P>0.001%). Karl Pearson correlation test showed no significant correlation between the knowledge of HIV/AIDS and the attitude of students towards HIV/AIDS patients (P>0.01%).
Conclusions: The findings suggest that although the students had adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS, their attitude towards this group of people was negative. From the study, fear of HIV contagion was observed as a major reason for the negative attitude of students towards HIV/AIDS patients. |
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Periodontal awareness in different healthcare professionals: A questionnaire survey |
p. 64 |
Swati Pralhad, Betsy Thomas DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103677 Aim: To assess the awareness of oral hygiene, periodontal disease and availability of treatment techniques among medical professionals.
Materials and Methods: One hundred and fifty medical professionals were interviewed through a questionnaire. Those interviewed included an equal number of medical interns, postgraduates, and consultants.
Results and Conclusion: A positive attitude towards dental and periodontal check and the treatment needs was observed among those questioned. The difference was statistically significant among the groups. However, inputs from this survey can be used to organize periodontal health programs and for planning of joint ventures. |
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Dental students' perception towards dress code in a private dental institution in Andhra Pradesh: A cross-sectional study |
p. 68 |
KM Sudhir, G Chandra Mohan, Nusrath Fareed, M Shanthi DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103679 Background: "Fashion is one of the world's oldest fountains of youth," as "with every new garment, one discovers a new self". Human behavior is changing due to changing trends and generation needs, new movements collide with older thoughts and influences from different streams of thought are always brought into contact with established belief changing the balance and centre of gravity of opinion. However, clothing affects several kinds of judgments people make.
Aim: To know the attitude of dental students towards the current professional dental dress code and identify perceived appropriate dress code for dental students.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among the dental students of a private dental institution in Andhra Pradesh. Dental students from first year to Interns were included in the study. Prior to the start of the study the four most commonly seen dressing patterns among students of the same region were identified and selected. The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire containing four pairs of photographs with a uniform background portraying models of male and female students in different attires to elicit the subject's response on dress code. Specifically, male and female students were surveyed separately using male model photographs for male respondents and female model photographs for female respondents.
Results: Three hundred and twenty-nine subjects, with mean age 21±4, participated and completed the questionnaires; 75.7% of the respondents felt that dental dress code is important. Professional informal dress code was preferred by 38.7% male and 42.6% female respondent as a dress code that portrayed the qualities of professionalism, 54.1% males and 34.9% females felt the need for change in professional dress code. Among the students favoring need for change in dental dress code from formals to others, 85% of the males preferred cool casuals and 79% females preferred causal.
Conclusion: The study revealed variation in preference of students and their negative attitude towards professional dress code. |
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JOURNAL REVIEWS |
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Dental education in India |
p. 73 |
SK Syed Kuduruthullah, M Thubashini DOI:10.4103/0974-7761.103680 |
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