Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Department of Oral Medicine, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRS, School of Dentistry, Department of Oral Pathology, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Braz Oral Res. 2022 Jul 11;36:e101. doi: 10.1590/1807-3107bor-2022.vol36.0101. eCollection 2022.
Oral cancer represents a public health issue because of its high mortality rate, resulting mainly from diagnostic delays. Insufficient training in oral diagnosis is usually perceived by dentists. Distance learning could be used as an auxiliary tool to bridge that gap. This study evaluated the impact of a distance learning course on oral mucosal lesion diagnosis offered to public healthcare dentists. Participants of an online course answered a pretest/posttest comprising clinical images of 30 clinical cases. Participants were questioned about the diagnosis and informed their decision on the cases (referring the cases to a specialist or managing them themselves), as a parameter of perceived self-efficacy. A total of 442 dentists enrolled in the course. Their pass rate was 97%. Classification of the nature of the lesions, diagnostic hypotheses, sensitivity, and specificity improved by 13.4%, 10.0%, 13.4%, and 6.6%, respectively (p<0.01, Wilcoxon test). Regarding management, there was a 16.6% reduction in the intention to refer cases, while confidence in the diagnosis of benign lesions increased by 40%. A distance learning course may be useful in continuing education actions for primary care dentists, improving their diagnostic abilities and encouraging them in the management of oral lesions. Moreover, this strategy could contribute to disseminating knowledge to remote regions, particularly among primary health care professionals.
口腔癌因其高死亡率而成为一个公共卫生问题，主要原因是诊断延误。牙医通常认为口腔诊断方面的培训不足。远程学习可以作为一种辅助工具来弥补这一差距。本研究评估了向公共卫生保健牙医提供的口腔黏膜病变诊断远程学习课程的影响。在线课程的参与者回答了一个前测/后测，其中包含 30 个临床病例的临床图像。参与者被问及诊断，并告知他们对病例的决策（将病例转介给专家或自行处理），作为感知自我效能的参数。共有 442 名牙医注册了该课程。他们的通过率为 97%。对病变性质、诊断假设、敏感性和特异性的分类分别提高了 13.4%、10.0%、13.4%和 6.6%（p<0.01，Wilcoxon 检验）。关于管理，转诊病例的意向减少了 16.6%，而对良性病变诊断的信心增加了 40%。远程学习课程可能有助于初级保健牙医的继续教育活动，提高他们的诊断能力，并鼓励他们管理口腔病变。此外，这种策略还可以有助于向偏远地区传播知识，特别是向初级卫生保健专业人员传播知识。
