Clinical assessment in Prosthetic Dentistry

Removable Prosthetic Dentistry (Pro400) is a fourth year module of the undergraduate dentistry programme which consists of a large clinical component. After reviewing the relevant literature and the module evaluations, clinical tests were introduced and implemented in 2008 as an additional clinical assessment method. The intention of introducing the clinical tests was to ensure that the students were assessed fairly, that their theoretical knowledge and the ability to apply it clinically were assessed. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the students' clinical performance (clinical tests and clinical session marks) to their theory assessment marks (test and exams) for this module. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study design. The clinical test marks and clinical session marks of all the students (n=109) in Pro400 were compared to their theory mark of that year. The tests marks were entered in a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel and the data analysis was done with assistance of a statistician. Results: Forty five students' clinical session marks were 10% higher than their theory mark and only 8 students' theory marks were 10% higher than their clinical test mark. There appears to be hardly any relationship between the students' clinical session marks and their theory marks. The average theory mark was 47%, the average clinical test marks was 55% and the average clinical session mark was 63%. Conclusion: These findings relates well to a study by Berrong et al (2008) that concluded that the clinical session marks were poorly correlated with the clinical exams(similar to clinical test). It appeared that the clinical tests marks of the students are more aligned to the theory marks than the clinical session marks.