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Biomedical subjects

S E Toevs

Publications and source records attributed to S E Toevs.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

An assessment of issues related to clinical skill remediation in dental hygiene education.

PURPOSE: Within the confines of a lock-step dental hygiene education curriculum, the remediation of clinical skills poses a challenge for both the faculty responsible for assuring clinical competence and for the students expected to meet the stringent clinical performance criteria. To gain an understanding of how dental hygiene programs meet remediation challenges, a survey of U.S. dental hygiene programs was conducted. METHODS: A questionnaire designed to elicit information on specific remediation protocols, the type of instructional methods used in clinical remediation, and the management of faculty work load and compensation when the need for remediation was identified was developed. The questionnaire was pretested by dental hygiene program administrators and then distributed to 227 U.S. dental hygiene programs via mail and Internet services with a follow-up mailing to non-respondents. Data were analyzed and reported as descriptive statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). RESULTS: An 80 percent (n = 181) response rate was obtained. A chi-square analysis of goodness of fit demonstrated no statistically significant difference between the respondents and the survey population in relationship to type of degree granted, educational setting, or geographic location. Results revealed an average student to clinical faculty ratio of five to one regardless of year of curriculum, educational setting, or geographic location. Just over half (53.6%, n = 97), reported having a written policy on clinical remediation with a clinical course syllabus being the most frequently cited mode of distribution. Ninety-eight percent (n = 177) indicated that clinical faculty met regularly to discuss student clinical progress. Issuing an incomplete grade, requiring the student to attend additional clinical sessions, and allowing the student to continue with his or her peers was the most frequent action taken when clinical remediation was needed at the end of the academic term (32.6%, n = 59). The most frequent remediation intervention strategy employed was one-on-one faculty instruction (87.3%, n = 158). Typodont practice and extra clinical time under one-on-one supervision were also identified by over half of the programs as clinical remediation methods. The majority reported that faculty responsible for managing remediation activities received no financial compensation for the remedial instruction (83%, n = 150). CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates that dental hygiene programs do engage in student clinical skill remediation. Educators are encouraged to apply principles of psychomotor skill acquisition to increase remediation effectiveness.

Competency-Based Education↗
PubMed1991

Health promotion behaviors of private practice dental hygienists.

Today, there is increased emphasis in oral healthcare on health promotion and disease prevention. This is consistent with the focus of the dental hygiene profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the health promotion behaviors of private practice dental hygienists within the ADHA District X region (Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming). Statistical analysis procedures (frequencies, tests of statistical significance, and factor analysis) were performed on the questionnaire responses of 817 respondents who were employed in private practice settings. The results indicated that most respondents spent approximately five to 10 minutes on oral hygiene instruction (OHI) during a prophylaxis appointment, and focused on a variety of "traditional instructional" activities (e.g., discussing brushing and flossing, plaque control, caries, and periodontal disease). The majority of the respondents were satisfied with the amount of time they spent on OHI. When asked what factors limited the amount of time spent on OHI, the respondents most often cited "lack of interest on the part of the patient." Most respondents indicated there was no separate fee charged for OHI, even if separate OHI appointments were scheduled. The factor analysis indicated that some low-frequency behaviors (e.g., use of disclosants) were related more strongly to the concept of health promotion than were some high-frequency behaviors (e.g., use of a periodontal probe). The results of this study indicate that although health promotion services are provided frequently by dental hygienists, these services may not be provided consistently in the most effective way. Future research efforts could investigate the health promotion behaviors of private practice hygienists across the nation with a revised questionnaire to determine more adequately the status of these behaviors.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Adult clients' recall of oral health education services received in private practice.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine adult clients' recall of oral health education services they received in private practice settings. METHODS: A written questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of 199 adult clients who each had an appointment at a university dental hygiene clinic. Responses were statistically analyzed to generate frequency distributions of recall of oral health education services received in private practice and to determine if statistical differences existed in the number of services recalled according to selected client characteristics. RESULTS: The results indicated that 14 of the 22 oral health education services included on the questionnaire were reported to have been provided to fewer than half of the study participants when they were treated in their private dental care setting. The subjects were most likely to recall they were given a toothbrush. Chi-square analysis of selected client characteristic variables indicated that only four of the services were statistically significant between the reported frequencies and client age and periodontal health status. The differences between the reported frequency of services for females and males were not statistically significant. Subjects recalled that more oral health education services had been provided in conjunction with a prophylaxis by a dental hygienist; the differences in the reported frequencies for 16 of the 22 services were statistically significant. (p < or = .05) CONCLUSIONS: The convenience sample and data constraints, which depended on the clients' recall of services received in a private practice setting, must be considered in interpreting the results. Even though dental hygienists provide more oral health education services than other oral healthcare practitioners, the generally low frequencies of adult client recall of oral health education services received in private practice settings indicate that oral healthcare providers may not incorporate effective learning strategies into their health education programs.

Adult↗