Implementing Standardized Patient Caregivers to Practice Difficult Conversations in a Pediatric Dentistry Course
By: Beau D. Meyer, DDS, MPH
Submitted by: Marsha Harman, Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation
The objective of this educational activity was to describe the implementation of three SPs in a pediatric dentistry course for second-year dental students. The authors developed three SP encounters covering interactions with caregivers of an infant with severe early childhood caries, an adolescent on the path to gender affirmation, and a child with autism and dental caries whose caregiver was resistant to fluoride- and silver-containing dental materials. The article describes the case design process, rubric construction and calibration, student debriefing, and pandemic modifications. The effectiveness of the implementation was evaluated by thematic analysis of student reflections following each encounter using a qualitative descriptive framework. Qualitative analysis showed that students preferred a more realistic encounter by having a child or other distraction present. Students relied on different elements of motivational interviewing depending on the objective of each encounter and the age of the patient. Overall, the SP encounters were well received by students and faculty as an alternative or supplement to traditional student evaluation methods. A number of lessons learned about implementing SP methodology in pediatric dental education were noted. With these experiences now in place, future evaluations should measure student performance in the SP encounters against student performance during clinical care.