Dental Education at the Crossroads Challenges and Change (1995) / Chapter Skim
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10 Summary and Conclusions
10 Summary and Conclusions
Pages 281-295
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From page 281... ...
These changes flow in part from broader scientific and social developments including public policies to promote individual and community health. Beyond these influences, however, lies the dedication of several generations of dental practitioners, educators, researchers, and public officials to improving oral health through educational, professional, and scientific achievements.
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From page 282... ...
7. In recruiting students and faculty, designing and implementing the curriculum, conducting research, and providing clinical services, dental schools have a responsibility to serve all Americans, not just those who are economically advantaged and relatively healthy.
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From page 283... ...
The future will bring · continued creation and diffusion of sophisticated information management technologies that will allow individual patient care, practice costs, and other variables to be tracked and assessed more readily; · ongoing evolution of expectations and methods for assessing and improving the quality and efficiency of care provided in ambulatory settings; · intensified pressure for control of health care costs; · further growth of managed care and integrated care systems as a prevalent if not dominant method of organizing and administering medical and other health services; and · greater emphasis on the contributions of health care to community as well as individual well-being.
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From page 284... ...
The implications of these trends and prospects for dental practice and dental education are clearer in some areas than in others. Dental schools and the dental community generally will see continued demands for greater professional accountability and evidence of effectiveness from public and university officials, institutional purchasers of dental services, managed care organizations, organized consumer or patient groups, and students.
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From page 285... ...
The strengths of dental education and the dental profession are, in the committee's view, both significant and in need of constant protection. These strengths include · a tradition of, and continuing commitment to, prevention and general practice that have helped achieve significant improvements in oral health; · a valuing of oral health and a reservoir of trust in the population, despite a "fear of the dentist's chair" that is both cliche and reality; · a core of educators, researchers, and practitioners dedicated to educational progress and advances in oral health; · a surrounding community of educators, health professionals, and public officials that supports the search for more effective and efficient educational strategies, on the one hand, and more effective and efficient health care, on the other; and
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From page 286... ...
The mission of research is frustrated by the small numbers of qualified researchers and the limited acceptance by clinical faculty of the importance of research and scholarship. The mission of patient care has been subservient to that of education, leaving most dental schools ill-prepared to attract patients in a world marked by increasing competition, organizational integration, and managed care.
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From page 287... ...
Third, securing the resources essential for educational improvement and, indeed, survival will require that dental schools demonstrate their contributions to their parent universities, academic health centers, and communities through achievements not only in education but also in research, technology transfer, and community and patient service. Fourth, to prepare for the future, the dental community educators, practitioners, regulators, and policymakers will benefit from continued testing of alternative models of education, practice, and performance assessment for both dentists and allied dental professionals.
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From page 288... ...
This committee therefore recommends that all parts of the dental community work together to secure more adequate public and private funding for personal dental services, public health and prevention programs, and community outreach activities, including those undertaken by dental school students and faculty. In their efforts to improve oral health status, both educators and policymakers are hampered by inconsistent and insufficient information on oral health status and services.
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From page 289... ...
THE MISSION OF RESEARCH Research is a fundamental mission of dental education, but too many dental schools and dental faculty are minimally involved in
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From page 290... ...
Dental schools will differ in how they define the specifics of their research priorities, but all schools need to formulate a program of faculty research and scholarly activity that meets or exceeds the expectations of their universities. To build research capacity and resources, as well as foster relationships with other researchers, it is important for dental schools to pursue coliaborative research opportunities that start with the academic health center or the university and extend to industry, government, dental societies, and other institutions able to support or assist basic science, clinical, and health services research.
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From page 291... ...
THE DENTAL SCHOOL IN THE UNIVERSITY To fulfill and improve their basic missions of education, research, patient care, and service, dental schools need the intellectual vitality, organizational support, and discipline of universities and academic health centers. In return, dental educators must contribute to university life, especially through research, scholarship, and efficient management of educational and patient care programs.
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From page 292... ...
In addition, dental accreditors and educators should be prepared to respond constructively to reasonable demands for increased public accountability and information. In the view of this committee, the most important deficiencies of dental licensure are concentrated in a few areas: the use of live patients in clinical licensure examinations; variations in the content and relevance of clinical examinations; unreasonable barriers to movement of dentists and dental hygienists across state lines; practice acts that unreasonably restrict the use of appropriately trained allied dental personnel; and inadequate means of assessing competency after initial licensure.
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From page 293... ...
On the one hand, the ratio of dentists to the general population is declining, and the coverage of dental services under expanded public or private health insurance could substantially increase the demand for such services, especially if additional efforts are made to reach those with significant unmet needs. On the other hand, the current dental work force appears to have reserve capacity that could be mobilized through better use of allied dental personnel, improved identification and elimination of care with little or no demonstrated health benefit, and more efficient delivery systems.
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From page 294... ...
Such groups may be organized both within and across leadership organizations such as the American Association of Dental Schools, the American Association of Dental Examiners, the American Dental Association, the American Dental Assistants' Association, and the American Dental Hygienists' Association. Given its discussions with leaders of these groups, the committee trusts that activities like these will be organized in the months following publication of this report.
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From page 295... ...
SUMMARYAND CONCLUSIONS / 295 or collective steps to implement recommendations, and suggestions about follow-up strategies. If the spirit of cooperation among dental leaders that led to this study persists, that gathering should find that this effort has begun to make a constructive contribution to the health of the profession and the public.
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