ArticleBMC medical education2025
Bridging the gap to clinical practice: a concept for virtual patients in preclinical education in prosthetic dentistry.
Article in BMC medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Impact of Early Clinical Exposure on Competency Development in Dental Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International dental journal · 2026Pooled it
- The landscape of virtual simulation in undergraduate dental education with implications for artificial intelligence incorporation.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs the transition to clinical practice is accompanied by challenges, the aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a concept for the integration of virtual patients in the dental curriculum at a dental school in Germany.
methodsThe defined learning goals were converted into corresponding modules, which consist of three main components: Case information, additional information and learning tasks. The modules served as a guideline for converting the existing case documentation into a coherent case and were supplemented with additional information. Learning tasks were integrated under the aspect of case-based learning. At baseline, 48 students participated (response rate: 90%) while the follow-up was completed by 36 students (response rate: 68%), of whom 24 stated to have used the e-learning tool.
resultsStatistically significant improvements in perceived competence for users were found in almost every item, and the overall agreement increased from 8.3% to 75%. For participants who did not use the e-learning tool, the overall agreement only increased to 33.3% with only few statistically significant improvements. In the evaluation of the e-learning tool, an overall agreement of 75% was documented regarding functionality and satisfaction. The scope reached an overall agreement of 87.5%.
conclusionThe results show a high level of student's satisfaction and improvements in terms of perceived competence, achieved by the concept-based integration of virtual patients. It can therefore be seen as a promising incorporation into the existing curriculum.
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Registered trials
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.