title: Students' perception of the prognosis for a single-surface amalgam restoration.
abstract: The aim of the study was to assess the self-rated skill, clinical judgement and competency of final-year pre-doctoral dental students. The study was also designed to determine whether the students' estimated durability of their single-surface restorations was determined by their confidence. Students were given a questionnaire and completed it anonymously. One hundred and ninety-six forms were returned from the 238 students (82% return rate). Complete analysis was possible on 169 questionnaires. The students' self-assessed skill and judgement were a significant factor in predicting how long they would tell a patient that their restoration would last. Those ranking themselves below average were more likely to state that their amalgam restorations would have a shorter life (odds increased by 2.82 for those ranking themselves lower than most others). There was a significant association between the students' self-assessed skill and judgement and their confidence in dealing with both the initial management of patients' medical emergencies (ρ = 0.244, P = 0.001, n = 191) and their general confidence in dealing with medical emergencies (ρ = 0.187, P = 0.01, n = 188). Given a conversational scenario with a patient, the treatment prognosis given by final-year pre-doctoral students for a single-surface amalgam restoration was dependent on their self-assessed competence, skill and judgement.
authors.affiliation: The School of Dentistry, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Hugh.Devlin@Manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Devlin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003723:Dental Amalgam; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011379:Prognosis; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D003723:Dental Amalgam