Should prospective dental students be screened for colour vision deficits?

Early assessment with a virtual reality haptic simulator predicts performance in clinical practice

Background

Prediction of clinical training aptitude in medicine and dentistry is largely driven by measures of a student’s intellectual capabilities. The measurement of sensorimotor ability has lagged behind, despite being a key constraint for safe and efficient practice in procedure-based medical specialties. Virtual reality (VR) haptic simulators, systems able to provide objective measures of sensorimotor performance, are beginning to establish their utility in facilitating sensorimotor skill acquisition, and it is possible that they may also inform the prediction of clinical performance.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study examined the relationship between student performance on a haptic VR simulator in the second year of undergraduate dental study with subsequent clinic performance involving patients 2 years later. The predictive ability was tested against a phantom-head crown test (a traditional preclinical dental assessment, in the third year of study).

Results

VR scores averaged across the year explained 14% of variance in clinic performance, while the traditional test explained 5%. Students who scored highly on this averaged measure were ~10 times more likely to be high performers in the clinical crown test. Exploratory analysis indicated that single-trial VR scores did not correlate with real-world performance, but the relationship was statistically significant and strongest in the first half of the year and weakened over time.

Conclusions

The data demonstrate the potential of a VR haptic simulator to predict clinical performance and open up the possibility of taking a data-driven approach to identifying individuals who could benefit from support in the early stages of training.

Psychosocial aspects of colour vision deficiency: Implications for a career in medicine

Colour vision deficiency (CVD) is a common problem and persons with CVD experience difficulties in daily life, early learning and development, education, choice of careers and work performance. Medical professionals with CVD also report difficulties in everyday tasks, training in medicine and performance of medical duties. However, because of limited evidence, the real impact of CVD on the lives of medical professionals is unclear, especially regarding the practice of medicine by doctors. The nature and severity of CVD, awareness of its impact, personal circumstances and the ability to cope with the deficiency are the major factors that determine the impact of CVD. However, there is a paucity of methodologically sound research on social and psychological aspects of CVD. Currently, early detection, enhancing awareness and offering support are the only proven ways of helping medical professionals with CVD. With the growing emphasis on equality and inclusivity of those with deficiencies, it is desirable to strike a balance between concerns about patient care and the rights of medical professionals with CVD to pursue their careers. Therefore, any future research also needs to focus on psychological aspects of CVD while exploring its impact on a career in medicine.

Eyesight: a study of the staff of a dental school

Objectives/Aims:

The aim was to investigate the vision of all 90 dentally qualified staff at a dental school.

Materials and Methods:

Ethical approval was obtained and a questionnaire-based survey conducted. Data were screened and analysed using Stata 13.1. The χ² and Fisher’s Exact tests were used to test for significance with an alpha level of 0.05.

Results:

The participation rate was 95.6%. Most of the teachers (92%) considered their eyesight was satisfactory to practice dentistry. Of the 97% who had been tested at some stage, 15% had their eye examination due to sight deterioration with 22% needing correction. Almost two-thirds were myopic and a third were hyperopic. Forty-nine per cent wore spectacles only, with about a quarter of this group alternating between spectacles and contact lenses. Of those with corrected vision, 80% followed their optometrist’s recall advice. Four participants reported that they were colour blind. While 4% had had laser-eye surgery, a further 27% were interested in this. Magnification was used by 72% with no significant differences between genders, age of staff member, place of qualification or registration status. Most of the staff (81%) thought that screening of dental student’s eyesight should be mandatory, and regular eye examinations as a condition of dental practice was supported by 67%.

Discussion:

The number of teachers reporting recent vision tests was encouraging; nevertheless, a worrying 8% surveyed were unsure if their eyesight was satisfactory for work. The commonest vision problem was myopia, with almost half of the teachers wearing spectacles. It is clear that visual standards for dentistry would be helpful. Magnification use was high, with many non-users indicating their intention to buy loupes.

Conclusions:

Within the limits of this study the teachers were conscientious regarding their eye care, irrespective of their training and age. There was strong support for the mandatory testing of vision for all dentists and especially dental students.