Effects of anxiety on dental students' noncognitive performance in their first objective structured clinical examination

Situational simulation teaching effectively improves dental students' non-operational clinical competency and objective structured clinical examination performance

BACKGROUND

Appropriate communication with dental patients enhances treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction. Implementing simulated patient interviews courses can improve patient-centered care and reduce conflict during clerkship training. Therefore, this study explored the relationship among student participation in a situational simulation course (SSC), academic performance, clerkship performance, and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) performance.

METHODS

This study was conducted with a sample of fifth-year dental students undergoing clerkship training. After implementing a situational simulation course to investigate the relationship among participation in SSC, academic performance, clerkship performance, and OSCE performance, a path analysis model was developed and tested.

RESULTS

Eighty-seven fifth-year dental students were eligible for the SSC, and most (n = 70, 80.46%) volunteered to participate. The path analysis model revealed that academic performance had a direct effect on OSCE performance (β = 0.281, P = 0.003) and clerkship performance (β = 0.441, P < 0.001). In addition, SSC teaching had a direct effect on OSCE performance (β = 0.356, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

SSCs can enhance dental students' non-operational clinical competency and OSCE performance effectively. Simulated patient encounters with feedback, incorporated into the dental curricula, have led to improved communication. Based on our findings, we suggest implementing SSC teaching before the OSCE to improve communication and cognitive skills.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in Periodontology with Simulated Patient: The Most Realistic Approach to Clinical Practice in Dentistry

The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is becoming an increasingly established assessment test in dental schools. The use of simulated patients in the OSCE makes the stations more similar to clinical practice. Therefore, the student can show their technical and clinical knowledge, and certainly, their ability to manage the patient. These sorts of tests, in which simulated patients can be included, would be used before the student started clinical practice with patients and/or at the end of the degree. The objective of this work was to describe how the periodontology station was developed using a simulated patient for students of a fifth year dentistry degree taking an OSCE test. Furthermore, a questionnaire was created to learn the perception of the students about this station and its characteristics. The fifth year students at the European University of Madrid positively evaluated this station in their examination. In addition, it was recorded that they preferred a simulated patient in their tests, rather than stations with clinical cases, images, X-rays, and presentations. It is essential that once the OSCE has been completed, the student receives a feedback to learn where they have failed and, therefore, be able to improve any of the aspects evaluated in the station.

Medical undergraduates' self-evaluation: before and after curriculum reform

BACKGROUND

In 2013, Taiwan launched a curriculum reform-the 7-year undergraduate medical education program was shortened to 6 years. This study explored the evaluation results from students regarding the curriculum reform and investigated graduates' perceptions regarding the curriculum organization of the two academic training programs affected by this curricular reform.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 14 to June 12, 2019. The 315 graduates from both the 7-year and 6-year curriculum programs in the same medical school in Taipei were invited to participate in this study. In total, 197 completed questionnaires were received, representing a response rate of 62.5%. The results of the principal component analysis confirmed the validity of the constructs employed in this self-administered questionnaire.

RESULTS

The t-test results yielded two main findings. First, the graduates from the 6-year program had significantly lower scores for preparedness for the upcoming postgraduate-year residency training than did their 7-year program counterparts. Additionally, the male graduates had significantly higher scores in terms of perceptions regarding curriculum organization and preparedness for postgraduate-year residency training than the female graduates. The results of stepwise regression also indicated that the sex difference was significantly correlated with graduates' readiness for their postgraduate-year residency training.

CONCLUSION

To avoid sex disparities in career development, a further investigation of female medical students' learning environment and conditions is necessary. In addition to the cross-sectional study of students' perceptions, further repeated measurements of the objective academic or clinical performance of graduates in clinical settings are desirable.

Relationships between Nursing Students’ Skill Mastery, Test Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, and Facial Expressions: A Preliminary Observational Study

Test anxiety and self-efficacy significantly influence the mastery of nursing skills. Facial expression recognition tools are central components to recognising these elements. This study investigated the frequent facial expressions conveyed by nursing students and examined the relationships between nursing skill mastery, test anxiety, self-efficacy, and facial expressions in a test-taking situation. Thirty-three second-year nursing students who were attending a university in a Korean metropolitan city participated. Test anxiety, self-efficacy, and facial expressions were collected while the students inserted indwelling catheters. Using Microsoft Azure software, the researchers examined the students’ facial expressions. Negative facial expressions, such as anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise, were more common during the test-taking situation than the practice trial. Fear was positively correlated with anxiety. None of the facial expressions had significant relationships with self-efficacy; however, disgust was positively associated with nursing skill mastery. The facial expressions during the practice and test-taking situations were similar; however, fear and disgust may have been indicators of test anxiety and skill mastery. To create a screening tool for detecting and caring for students’ emotions, further studies should explore students’ facial expressions that were not evaluated in this study.

The effect of anxiety on nicotine dependence among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

PURPOSE

This study investigated the effect of anxiety on nicotine dependence among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This was a descriptive and correlational study. The sample consisted of 503 university students in Turkey. Data were collected online using a demographic characteristics form, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).

FINDINGS

FTND scores differed by gender, family type, and grade level, while STAI scores differed by gender, income, and region of residence (p < 0.05). Fifty-one percent of the participants had moderate anxiety, while 65.2% had low nicotine dependence. FTND and STAI mean scores were strongly correlated (p < 0.05).

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The higher the anxiety, the higher the nicotine dependence among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The predictors of nursing students' clinical competency in pre-internship objective structured clinical examination: The roles of exam anxiety and academic success

BACKGROUND

Identifying the predictors of nursing students' clinical competency in objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is of utmost importance. Therefore, the present study was to investigate the predictive roles of exam anxiety and academic success in nursing students' clinical competency in the pre-internship OSCE.

METHODS

In this descriptive-analytical study, a total number of 102 nursing students, meeting the inclusion criteria and enrolled in the sixth semester (third year) of the graduate nursing program in Iran, were firstly selected by the census method. The pre-internship OSCE was then implemented at eight stations based on a pre-designed schedule template. The required data were also collected through a demographic-academic characteristics questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to determine the exam anxiety score, the nursing program grade point average (GPA) to reflect on the levels of academic success, and the OSCE score to control clinical competency. The data analysis was also performed at the significance level of 0.05.

RESULTS

The linear regression model, in which the exam anxiety, the nursing program GPA, and the demographic-academic characteristics variables had been imported, could explain 33.52% of the variance of the nursing students' clinical competency in the pre-internship OSCE (R² = 0.616). Of the variables concerned, only the nursing program GPA could be a significant predictor of the nursing students' clinical competency scores in the OSCE, so that 0.8 points were added to the clinical competency scores in the OSCE as the nursing program GPA increased by one unit (p = 0.000, β = 0.717), but no significant relationship was observed between exam anxiety and clinical competency in the pre-internship OSCE among the nursing students.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study endorsed the use of the OSCE in assessing the nursing students' clinical competency and implementing learning strategies to strengthen the levels of academic success in such individuals.

An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for French Dental Students: Feedback after 2 Years

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a practical examination that provides a standardized assessment of clinical competence. The aim of this study is to evaluate the objectivity and the reliability of an OSCE in dentistry. To this end, a retrospective monocentric observational study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry of Nancy by analyzing the exam results of 81 students. The study population consisted of the fifth-year students. The examination was broken down into six stations which were doubled, and different juries of examiners were constituted (installed in different rooms) according to the same composition. The p-value was set at 0.05. We found an equivalence of the results between the different rooms on the global mean score obtained at the six stations (p = 0.021). In terms of gender, women have statistically significantly higher overall scores than men (p = 0.001). The evaluation of a difference in the scores between full-time and part-time teachers does not find any statistically significant difference or equivalence in the station where it was possible to realize the comparison. However, the students’ waiting time before the exam seems to negatively influence the results. Compared with other international OSCE studies, the results presented seemed sufficiently objective and reliable, although some adjustments are still necessary.