Gary M. Johnson, DDS, is Associate Professor, Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Arizona; Amy F. Buros, PhD, is a biostatistician, Midwestern University Office of Research and Sponsored Programs; and Radd W. Lukas, DDS, is Assistant Professor, Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Arizona.
J Dent Educ. 2018 Sep;82(9):929-935. doi: 10.21815/JDE.018.090.
Postbaccalaureate programs help predental students strengthen their basic science knowledge and improve their study skills before applying or reapplying for dental school admission. A high percentage of postbac students are admitted to and graduate from dental schools, but gaining greater understanding of how well these students perform in key areas of the first two years' curriculum would be useful for the design of those programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate postbac dental students' performance in the D1 and D2 years at one U.S. dental school compared to dental students with a four-year baccalaureate degree only. Performance assessed was the students' dental school grades in basic science courses, in all D1 and D2 didactic courses, and on preclinical simulation lab practical exams. Didactic and practical scores were gathered anonymously for the Classes of 2013-18 at the College of Dental Medicine-Arizona (CDMA) at Midwestern University, where postbac students with master's degrees from the affiliated College of Health Sciences made up 6-19% of each class. The two cohorts chosen for comparison were students with baccalaureate degrees only and students with one-year Master of Arts degrees from the College of Health Sciences. The scores of these postbac dental students and their non-postbac peers were found to be comparable in the basic science courses. However, for all the didactic courses combined, the non-postbac cohort had significantly higher mean scores than the postbac cohort for the fall quarter 2 and winter quarter 2 in 2013-15 and all years combined. The practical scores for the two cohorts were not significantly different for any year. Overall, this study demonstrated that the MA program in the College of Health Sciences prepared the postbac students to compete on an equal level with the non-postbac students in the CDMA D1 and D2 curriculum.
预科后课程帮助牙科学预科学生在申请或重新申请牙科学院入学前加强基础科学知识并提高学习技能。大量预科后学生被牙科学院录取并毕业，但更深入地了解这些学生在头两年课程的关键领域的表现如何，对于这些课程的设计将是有用的。本研究的目的是评估一所美国牙科学院的预科后牙科学学生在 D1 和 D2 年级的表现，与仅具有四年制学士学位的牙科学学生进行比较。评估的表现是学生在基础科学课程、所有 D1 和 D2 理论课程以及临床前模拟实验室实践考试中的牙科学成绩。在 Midwestern 大学的牙科医学院-亚利桑那分校（CDMA），预科生和非预科生的理论和实践成绩均匿名收集，其中来自健康科学学院的硕士预科生占每个班级的 6-19%。为比较选择了两个队列，一个是仅具有学士学位的学生，另一个是来自健康科学学院的一年制艺术硕士学位的学生。发现这些预科后牙科学学生和他们的非预科后同辈在基础科学课程中的成绩相当。然而，对于所有理论课程的综合成绩，在 2013-15 年的秋季季度 2 和冬季季度 2 以及所有年份中，非预科后队列的平均分数均显著高于预科后队列。两个队列的实践分数在任何一年都没有显著差异。总的来说，这项研究表明，健康科学学院的 MA 课程使预科后学生在 CDMA 的 D1 和 D2 课程中能够与非预科后学生平等竞争。
