Evidence-Based Practice Teaching for Undergraduate Dental Students

Bristol Dental School launched a new undergraduate curriculum in the 2019–2020 academic year. Statistics teaching is embedded within the helical theme of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), which is led by non-clinical staff, but includes contributions from clinicians.

In year 1, students are introduced to the skills needed to understand and critically appraise published research. Basic epidemiological concepts, different types of study design, summarising and interpreting data, and choosing appropriate statistical analyses are covered. The focus is on concepts and interpretation rather than calculation, and examples are taken from published oral health research. The flipped classroom approach is used for the majority of the teaching comprising e-lectures and small group tutorials, and questions on EBP are included in the end of year programme-based summative assessment. In years 2 and 3, students take part in a series of six critical appraisal workshops, which allow further consolidation of the material learnt in year 1, plus some slightly more advanced statistical topics are introduced, such as meta-analysis. These workshops are mainly based around application of Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tools, and each include a formative assessment. The final component in year 4 is an evidence summary project, where students work in pairs to write a comprehensive review of 7–10 published papers on a clinical topic of their choice. Summative assessment is based on this written report.

Feedback demonstrates that students generally engage very well with the EBP theme, and assessment results suggest that by the end of year 4, most students should be well-equipped to apply EBP in their future careers.