Integrated case scripts to enhance diagnostic competency

BACKGROUND: The overwhelmingly high burden of disease and disorder especially in developing countries requires oral physicians to provide optimal dental treatment without complicating individuals’ general health. The opportunity for learners to extract the multiple aspects of a systemic condition and to relate them with the presenting complaint in order to devise an appropriate dental treatment plan is limited by time in chair- side teaching. To overcome the necessity of exposing students to real patients with varying degrees of underlying disease, those in medical and nursing education unanimously employ imaginary scenarios similar to real cases. However, such clinical scripts are seldom practiced in dental education, and the prospect of structured integration is almost never addressed. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of applying systematic and integrated case-based discussion in dental education in terms of enhancing five essential skills to novice Indian dental students. METHODS: A mixed- methods study was carried out with thirty graduating third-year students in 5 focus groups. The integrated case-based focused group training occurred in 6 weeks and lasted approximately 90 minutes per discussion. Ten case scripts of hypothetical situations were discussed and five integrated modules were organized as a part of this program. Revised Bloom’s taxonomy was adopted to achieve the expected level of competency. RESULTS: Students performance following integrated case-based discussions was improved and their acceptance to this practice is positive. CONCLUSIONS: The present study supports the need for course specific, basic science integrated seminars with concurrent case scripts discussion to enhance students’ competencies. Key words:Case scripts, Revised Bloom’s taxonomy, chair-side teaching, integrated teaching.