title: Undergraduates' perceptions of the value of practical inhalation sedation experience in a UK dental school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This was to establish the level and reported value of paediatric IHS experience from the perspective of final year undergraduates and to evaluate whether those students with more experience expressed feeling better-prepared for future practice and more likely to undertake further postgraduate education in IHS.
  
  
  METHODS
  All final year students were invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire designed to elicit undergraduate perceptions of IHS using visual analogue scales and free-text questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A response rate of 77 % was achieved. Results revealed that only 21 % of participants reported acting as operator sedationist in ten or more IHS cases. Thus, the majority of undergraduates' did not meet the recommended quantity of practical IHS experiences, as outlined by the British Dental Sedation Teachers Group. In general, students felt on the value of IHS in the management of anxious children and expressed a desire to undertake further postgraduate education in conscious sedation. However, those students with more experience of practical IHS expressed feeling better able to describe the IHS experience with patients and parents, and were more satisfied with the quality of teaching. Furthermore free-text comments revealed that, regardless of experience, students wished to gain more experience of the practical administration of IHS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need to increase the provision of IHS training within an undergraduate curriculum, in addition to improving the accessibility of postgraduate sedation courses.
authors: School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5PS, UK. sianyw3@liv.ac.uk.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Walley
authors: School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5PS, UK.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Albadri
mesh_terms: D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000523:psychology; D000769:Anesthesia, Inhalation / Q000523:psychology; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000193:education*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000523:psychology; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital; D004497:Education, Dental; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011231:Preceptorship; D012575:Schools, Dental; D012649:Self Concept; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D064232:Visual Analog Scale
keywords: Inhalation sedation; Nitrous oxide; Student perceptions