Dentistry is a growing field in the branch of medicine that features a wide range of specialties including orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral and maxillofacial pathology, and of course general dentistry. Although the dental world contains many offshoots and choices, one common characteristic is the importance of a well-rounded and comprehensive education and training.
As many forms of education technology continue to develop and become more affordable, so do the options when it comes to providing new and innovative ways to educate our dentists of tomorrow. One new way dental educators are helping their students is by using video recording and observation.
As a dental educator, reviewing your students’ performances during clinical trainings can be the most difficult part. Taking notes while also watching your student perform is no easy task and even if you do catch everything your student does, memories can be fallible when it comes time to put your thoughts on paper and lead a review or debriefing.
In addition, simply telling your student what they did right or wrong in a clinical setting can only help them so much. However, by having a student watch their recorded performance and showing them exactly what they did right or wrong can help immensely with knowledge and skill retention.
While the most obvious use of a video system for dentistry is education, it has many additional uses as well. For example, OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations) generally rely on video observation and recording. First developed to assess the clinical competence of medical students, OSCEs have been used widely as an assessment method for disciplines such as nursing, pre-clinical subjects and dentistry. They help measure the diagnosis, treatment planning, and related clinical judgment skills of licensure candidates.
To properly evaluate a student taking an OSCE, it is important to remain as objective as possible and the best way to do that is to not be forced to evaluate in the heat of the moment or off memory alone.
Studies have shown that real-time evaluation and video reviews tend to produce a significant difference in evaluations and ultimately pass/fail determinations. By utilizing video recording for student examinations, an educator has the best opportunity to remain as objective and impartial as possible and provide a student with the best possible evaluation.
It can be hard to know what to look for when searching for a video system for dental education, but a few things to look for include:
- A simple yet powerful tool that can be learned in minutes
- A browser-based client without the need for specific workstations or installations
- A system that works well with your IT infrastructure
- Comprehensive user management rights, a detailed audit log and optional encryption
- A system that can help maintain compliance standards (HIPAA/HITECH)
If you're interested in learning more about a video system that provides all those features and more, learn more about our VALT video observation and recording system!
