title: Going interactive: six strategies to meet the challenge of teaching electrosurgery to general dental practitioners.
abstract: Mandatory continuing professional development has resulted in a recent expansion in postgraduate dental teaching. One popular type of teaching is the practical 'hands-on' course that combines the explanation of theory with the acquisition of practical skills in small groups. The challenge to dental teachers is to provide the best level of teaching on these courses where the course participants bring varied expectations and different levels of knowledge, skill or interest. This paper presents a new teaching model that has been developed for the postgraduate teaching of Electrosurgery. The key components of this course include an interactive theory lecture using multimedia, followed by hands-on practical teaching. The emphasis throughout is on the use of facilitation and group learning rather than traditional didactic teaching. A series of strategies for the effective delivery of such a hands-on course together with evaluation of findings from 31 courses are considered.
authors.affiliation: The Maurice Wohl General Dental Practice Centre & Department of Primary Care Dentistry, King's College London Dental Institute, University College London east Dental Institute.
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Millar
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Louca
mesh_terms: D004498:Education, Dental, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D004499:Education, Dental, Graduate / Q000379:methods; D004598:Electrosurgery / Q000193:education*; D005246:Feedback; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D017145:Models, Educational; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods