Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35720955›Full record

ArticleJournal of the West African College of Surgeons

Dental Education With the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ghanaian Dental Students' Experience.

Sandra Ama Hewlett, Merley Afua Newman-Nartey, Kofi Osei-Tutu, Alexander Oti Acheampong, Nii Otu Nartey

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the West African College of Surgeons. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 57% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Sandra Ama HewlettUniversity of Ghana Dental School, Accra, Ghana.
Merley Afua Newman-NarteyUniversity of Ghana Dental School, Accra, Ghana.
Kofi Osei-TutuUniversity of Ghana Dental School, Accra, Ghana.
Alexander Oti AcheampongUniversity of Ghana Dental School, Accra, Ghana.
Nii Otu NarteyUniversity of Ghana Dental School, Accra, Ghana.
University of Ghana · GH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ghanaian tertiary institutions were closed down and resorted to online teaching. This posed a challenge for dental education due to requirements of clinical tutoring and patient handling. This study explored the experiences of dental students with the change in teaching methods during the pandemic with the aim of assessing their effectiveness and explore measures for their improvement. Materials and Methods: This was an online survey involving undergraduate dental students in the two dental schools in Ghana. An e-questionnaire was sent out to all the students, exploring their knowledge of and response to the pandemic and assessing the impact of measures implemented during the pandemic to assist them complete their education. Results: Two hundred out of 412 students participated in the study giving a response rate of 48.5%; however, completed responses were available for 195 students, 123 (63.1%) from the University of Ghana Dental School and 72 (36.9%) from the Kwame Nkrumah University School of Medicine and Dentistry. There were 106 (54.4%) females;108 participants (54.4%) were pre-clinical students. One hundred and sixty-four (84%) respondents believed dental professionals had a higher risk of contagion because of proximity to patients during treatment and 115(59.0%) reported being fearful of performing clinical procedures. The students demonstrated adequate knowledge of the disease and a positive attitude towards the required changes instituted because of the pandemic. They however, highlighted technical obstacles and distraction as some of their challenges. The quality of internet was acceptable, but the volume of data was inadequate to meet their needs. Also, though both Universities had their own recommended learning management systems, Zoom was the preferred online learning platform. Conclusions: Generally, the students demonstrated a positive attitude towards the required changes. A blended educational approach may continue to be ideal for dental education as we adapt to this pandemic. Innovative ways may need to be sought to improve the online experience and the University approved online learning management systems enhanced to make them more user friendly.

Indexed as

Clinical dental trainingCOVID-19dental educationdental studentsghana

Identifiers

PMID35720955
PMCPMC9202605
OpenAlexW4285724537

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.