title: Development and evaluation of learning module on clinical decision-making in Prosthodontics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Best practice strategies for helping students learn the reasoning skills of problem solving and critical thinking (CT) remain a source of conjecture, particularly with regard to CT. The dental education literature is fundamentally devoid of research on the cognitive components of clinical decision-making.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was aimed to develop and evaluate the impact of blended learning module on clinical decision-making skills of dental graduates for planning prosthodontics rehabilitation.
  
  
  METHODS
  An interactive teaching module consisting of didactic lectures on clinical decision-making and a computer-assisted case-based treatment planning software was developed Its impact on cognitive knowledge gain in clinical decision-making was evaluated using an assessment involving problem-based multiple choice questions and paper-based case scenarios.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean test scores were: Pretest (17 ± 1), posttest 1 (21 ± 2) and posttest 2 (43 ± 3). Comparison of mean scores was done with one-way ANOVA test. There was overall significant difference in between mean scores at all the three points (P < 0.001). A pair-wise comparison of mean scores was done with Bonferroni test. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level. The pair-wise comparison shows that posttest 2 score is significantly higher than posttest 1 and posttest 1 is significantly higher than pretest that is, pretest 2 > posttest 1 > pretest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blended teaching methods employing didactic lectures on the clinical decision-making as well as computer assisted case-based learning can be used to improve quality of clinical decision-making in prosthodontic rehabilitation for dental graduates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, VSPM's Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Saee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, VSPM's Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Dipti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lambade
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, VSPM's Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Jayashree
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chahande
keywords: Blended learning; case based computer assisted learning; clinical decision making