An approach on defining competency in evidence-based dentistry

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Evidence-Based Dentistry

Background:

• Current assessment of evidence-based dentistry (EBD) knowledge and behavior in dental education lacks explicit competency criteria.
• This deficiency hinders effective instructional design and the accurate assessment of student development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify knowledge and cognitive domains for educational objectives within a pre-doctoral dental program across the EBD five-step process.
• To articulate educational objectives and behavioral expectations for skill acquisition at each EBD step.
• To establish outcome evaluation criteria for assessing student progression from novice to expert.

Main Methods:

• Identified knowledge and cognitive domains for each level of the EBD five-step process.
• Defined educational objectives with behavioral expectations for skill acquisition.
• Developed outcome evaluation criteria to measure progressive skill acquisition.

Main Results:

• Presented educational objectives, knowledge types, and cognitive processes for each EBD step.
• Detailed the 'Ask' step objectives, including formulating clinical questions and articulating PICO components.
• Established outcome criteria for competent clinicians, emphasizing clear PICO articulation linked to clinical situations.

Conclusions:

• Assessment strategies for EBD competency are limited by the complexity of evaluating knowledge and behaviors.
• The EBD academic community needs to define competency expectations for entry into general dental practice.
• A proposed framework offers measurable outcome criteria to address current EBD assessment gaps.