Does the nature of the clinical placement have an influence on how confident dental students feel when treating paediatric patients?

Background Undergraduate students at the University Dental Hospital of Manchester (UDHM) receive paediatric clinical teaching in 10 outreach placements or in a consultant-led hospital setting. The outreach clinics are an integrated part of the students’ experience, allowing them to see a wide variety of paediatric case mix in the primary care setting. The UDHM assumes that students receive similar paediatric experience in all of the clinical settings. Aims/objectives To assess if any difference exists in self-reported confidence between those that receive their clinical teaching in an outreach setting or the consultant-led unit. Materials and Methods of the students in 4th and 5th year received a questionnaire. Except for the demographic data, the students were expected to report their confidence in performing 15 key paediatric skills using a 10-point Likert scale. Data analysis was conducted with SPSS (Version 24) Results A total number of 123 students returned the questionnaire. 86% of the clinical teaching was provided in outreach. In general, both 4th and 5th year students felt confident in preventative dentistry (Likert >5). Confidence in clinical skills increased from 4th-5th year. However, students still reported lack of confidence (<5) in pulp therapy, pre-formed metal crowns and primary extractions. ANOVA and Tukey-Test results are presented to compare between the outreach and consultant-led units. Conclusion This investigation provides insight into the effect of the clinical setting in developing self-confidence and highlights the most common areas that students lack confidence.