Aligning clinical assessment with course elements in prosthodontic dentistry: a South African case

Clinical tests were introduced as an additional clinical assessment tool in the prosthodontics curriculum of the fourth-year undergraduate dentistry program at one South African university. This study compared the relationship between the students' performance in the clinical tests and daily clinical grades on the one hand with their theoretical performance on the other. It also explored the perceptions of the academic staff on the validity of clinical tests as an assessment tool. The analysis of the students' test results showed insignificant relationships between their clinical daily grades and their grades for assessing theory. However, clinical assessment via tests is well accepted by the course staff, and they perceived them to be more reliable than daily clinical grades as assessment methods. The findings of the study support other studies that concluded that the daily grades of dental students poorly correlate with their competency exams module. The findings also relate well to the lecturers' views that clinical tests were more reliable as a clinical assessment tool than the students' daily clinical grade.