Community Based Clinical Teaching: The Student View Tom Bysouth Fifth Year Student Cardiff University School of Dentistry

Why does the student view matter? Consumer based society ▫ Input into our education Tuition fees The real stakeholders?

The evidence End of term feedback sheets ▫ ▫ ▫ Anecdotal student evidence Positives, negatives, comparisons with hospital teaching

Positives Nursing support Clinical freedom Staff attitudes Organisation Bridge gap between hospital and VT

Nursing Support At St David’s we have our own nurse Most popular answer ▫ Efficient working ▫ Confidence ▫ Team working ▫ “Having nurses that want to help you should be a fundamental part of the clinical experience – they alone make the biggest difference in our improvement”

Clinical Freedom Treated as colleagues Treatment planning Book own appointment times ▫ “Shorter appointment times allows us to see more patients and allows us to be more aware of time management”

Staff Attitudes Friendly and approachable ▫ “Teaching and staff were all brilliant, good feedback and questioning of why I am doing things” Good working environment

Organisation Kept busy ▫ Free slots always filled Seminar programme ▫ Prepare for VT ▫ Talk about wider aspects of dentistry

Bridging the gap Geared up to environment more akin to VT ▫ Patient contact ▫ Control ▫ “I’ve learned more practice skills and now feel prepared to practice”

Negatives Computerised notes ▫ Time to learn Not spending enough time in Community Based Clinical Teaching Nothing ▫ “not easy to find dislikes about this place”

Comparison with UDH Overriding theme: Cardiff students enjoy CBCT ▫ Different challenges ▫ “learning environment is student friendly” ▫ “You enjoy what you do here” [St David’s] Reasons stated previously

Conclusions Evidence presents a positive picture The Cardiff experience is fantastic ▫ Builds upon the solid foundation of dental hospital ▫ Logical skill progression ▫ Excellent experience on treating patients in the community