Context / probleemstelling of aanleiding

Context/probleemstelling of aanleiding:

Evidence-based dentistry (EBD) is listed as one of the core skills in dentistry to provide an improved standard of care. However, EBD-practices in lower-middle income countries (LMIC) are very limited (Minja and Lwoga, 2021). Dental schools have an important role in promoting research utilization through EBD-teaching. It is unclear how to improve this nationally. In a single-center intervention of a high-income country, school leaders’ strong support was key to expanding EBD-teaching. (Hinton 2015). Therefore, we started trying to obtain the deans of Indonesian dental schools’ commitment to change as the first crucial step.

Beschrijving van de interventie/innovatie:

The project was introduced to the deans of 32 Indonesian dental school during an in-person national meeting. Using an online survey, they were asked to rate the importance of EBD-skills for new dentists and report necessary improvements to their EBD-teaching resources. They were also invited to forward a follow-up questionnaire to their curriculum teams and EBD-teachers to complete it as a group. The second questionnaire explored their current EBD programs and resources in detail. In line with Self-Determination Theory, delivering the survey during the meeting and also the two-step approach were aimed to raise relatedness and awareness among key-stakeholders about the importance of a good EBD-teaching program.

Ervaringen/analyse van de implementatie:

The responses to both questionnaires were extremely high. Thirty-one deans completed the first questionnaire (96.9% response rate) and 29 curriculum teams from different schools returned the second questionnaire (90.6%). All deans perceived EBD-skills in students and EBD-teaching in their curricula as extremely important. They consider EBD-training for teachers necessary, and they acknowledge that their curricula need to increase EBD-content coverage. We feel that introducing the survey during their meeting and the two steps approach successfully increased their feelings of relatedness, leading to higher response rates on the surveys.

Lessons learned (implicaties voor de praktijk):

With our innovative personal approach we used, we were able to make the deans unanimous in their opinion about the importance of EBD in dental schools, and we created a strong support base for developing and introducing a nationwide faculty development program on EBD. The next step in our project will be to develop an online learning course on EBD through co-creation, and to pilot it in one institution. After the pilot we hope to offer the program as a model to all other dental schools in the country.

Referenties (max. 2):

Hinton, R.J., McCann, A.L., Schneiderman, E.D., Dechow, P.C., 2015. The Winds of Change Revisited: Progress Towards Building a Culture of Evidence-Based Dentistry. J Dent-Educ 79, 499–509. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.0022-0337.2015.79.5.tb05909.x

Minja, I.K., Lwoga, E.T., 2021. Evidence-based Dentistry among Dentists in Low-Middle Income Countries: A Systematic-Review. East-Afr-Health-Res- J 5, 129–136. https://doi.org/10.24248/eahrj.v5i2.662