title: Dental students' reflections on their community-based experiences: the use of critical incidents.
abstract: Dental schools are challenged to develop new learning methodologies and experiences to better prepare future dental practitioners. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the community-based experiences of dental students as documented in their critical incident essays and explore what learning outcomes and benefits students reported. Following two required community-based clinical rotations, each student wrote a reflection essay on a self-defined critical incident that occurred during the rotations. Rotations took place in settings such as a public health clinic, special needs facility, hospital, or correctional institution. Essays for two classes of students were content-analyzed for recurring themes and categories. Students were confronted in their rotations with a wide range of situations not typically encountered in dental academic settings. Their essays showed that, as a result of these rotations, students developed increased self-awareness, empathy, communications skills, and self-confidence. Critical incidents challenged assumptions and stereotypes, enhanced awareness of the complexities of dental care, and raised complex ethical dilemmas. The essays also illustrated a heightened sense of professional identity and enabled students to appreciate the role dentistry can play in impacting patients' lives. We concluded from the study that community-based dental education that includes a process for reflection holds promise as an educational strategy to facilitate the personal and professional development of future dentists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Ecology, School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Mahyar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mofidi
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: Leslie L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Pitner
authors.forename: Eugene S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Sandler
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003142:Communication; D003730:Dental Care for Persons with Disabilities; D003740:Dental Clinics; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital; D004497:Education, Dental; D004645:Empathy; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007858:Learning; D011330:Prisons; D024382:Professional Role; D011636:Public Health Dentistry / Q000193:education; D012649:Self Concept; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013240:Stereotyping; D013335:Students, Dental; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods