Development and evaluation of learning module on clinical decision-making in Prosthodontics

Purpose: Best practice strategies for helping students learn the reasoning skills of problem solving and critical thinking (CT) remain a source of conjecture, particularly with regard to CT. The dental education literature is fundamentally devoid of research on the cognitive components of clinical decision-making. Aim: This study was aimed to develop and evaluate the impact of blended learning module on clinical decision-making skills of dental graduates for planning prosthodontics rehabilitation. Methodology: An interactive teaching module consisting of didactic lectures on clinical decision-making and a computer-assisted case-based treatment planning software was developed Its impact on cognitive knowledge gain in clinical decision-making was evaluated using an assessment involving problem-based multiple choice questions and paper-based case scenarios. Results: Mean test scores were: Pretest (17 ± 1), posttest 1 (21 ± 2) and posttest 2 (43 ± 3). Comparison of mean scores was done with one-way ANOVA test. There was overall significant difference in between mean scores at all the three points ( P posttest 1 > pretest. Conclusion: Blended teaching methods employing didactic lectures on the clinical decision-making as well as computer assisted case-based learning can be used to improve quality of clinical decision-making in prosthodontic rehabilitation for dental graduates.