title: Five practices of efficient factories applied to dental education.
abstract: Efficient factories, such as dental school clinics (DSC), are trying to improve the quality of their product by reducing inefficiencies, error rates, and wastage. Dental education is an expensive business for the student and the institution. Dental materials and equipment are costly, and students are novice providers who work slowly and inefficiently compared to an experienced dentist; this is not a good business model. The objective of this article was to present and apply five practices of efficient factories that could be applied to the DSC setting. I propose that this will lead to improved educational outcomes and improved patient outcomes in DSC.
authors.affiliation: Office of Dental Education, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Romesh P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Nalliah
mesh_terms: D057189:Checklist; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003740:Dental Clinics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005179:Faculty, Dental / Q000592:standards; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D066192:Manufacturing Industry / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012575:Schools, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D013335:Students, Dental; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods
keywords: calibration; curriculum; education; efficiency; quality