title: Academic deans' perceptions of current and ideal curriculum emphases.
abstract: This study assessed the current and ideal for dental curriculum emphasis of thirty-three curriculum topic areas and evaluated barriers to curriculum change. A forty-six item survey was mailed to the academic deans of all U.S. dental schools with an 86 percent e response rate (n = 57). The means of their responses for current curricular emphasis and ideal emphasis on the thirty-three topic areas were compared. "Health promotion/disease prevention," "primary care," and "effective patient-provider relationships/communication" were the three topic areas rated most highly (for ideal emphasis) by the academic deans. "Case management," "outpatient/ambulatory care," and "continuous quality improvement" also received high mean scores for ideal emphasis. The most significant barrier to curriculum reform was "an already crowded curriculum." The academic deans reasserted the traditional emphasis in dentistry on primary care. There also appears to be considerable support for educational programs that will foster better patient relationships and greater quality assurance and control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Administration and Policy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Graber
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: O'Neil
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bellack
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Musham
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Javed
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D019090:Case Management; D003142:Communication; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003479:Curriculum; D003729:Dental Care; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D004497:Education, Dental; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011313:Preventive Dentistry; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012575:Schools, Dental; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States