A Review of the Ethics of Patient-Based Licensure Examinations

Purpose Concerns regarding the ethical justification for the use of single-encounter, procedure-based examinations on live patients for the licensure of dental hygienists and dentists in the United States persists despite decades of debate and publication on the subject. The purpose of this literature review was to summarize the specific ethical concerns and quantify recommendations in favor or against this examination methodology.Methods A population, intervention, control or comparison, outcome (PICO) question was developed to review the topic as follows: "For individuals receiving dental care as part of determination of candidates for competency and readiness for licensure, do patient-based licensure examinations, as compared to other assessment methods, violate or infringe upon ethical principles or ethical standards for health care or society?" An electronic search was performed in three databases: PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Embase. Key search terms and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) included the following: ethics, clinical, competence, dental, dental hygiene, dentistry, education, licensure, live patient, and practice.Results Ethical concerns about the use of patient examinations have been published in the professional literature for over 35 years. Of the 29 selected or endpoint articles identified, 27 articles cited one or more ethical concerns relating to single-encounter patient-based examinations while 20 articles recommended the elimination of this type of examination with an additional 6 articles citing elimination as an option in resolving the ethical issues regarding this type of licensure examination.Conclusion The literature holds a predominant, prevailing professional opinion that single-encounter, procedure-based examinations on live patients presents significant ethical concerns and should be eliminated as a method in initial dental hygiene and dental licensure. The literature also suggests that state dental boards should initiate corrective regulatory or legislative actions to expeditiously end recognition of live patient examinations in their licensure processes.