Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 6;14(1):26975. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75128-3.
Dental practice management is usually a mandatory course for both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. However, learners and educators may encounter challenges in gaining experiences in real-life dental practice. The concept of a gamified virtual tour could have potential to improve dental practice management skills. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the educational impact of a gamified virtual dental clinic (GVDC) on dental practice management skills among dental undergraduates (UG) and postgraduates (PG). All participants were assigned to complete the GVDC. Pre- and post-knowledge assessments were administered to evaluate knowledge acquisition. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to investigate user perceptions toward the use of GVDC. There were 20 dental undergraduates and 20 orthodontic residents participating in UG and PG groups, respectively. Both groups demonstrated statistically significant increases in their assessment scores after completing the GVDC (P < 0.001). Although the pre-knowledge assessment score of the PG group was notably higher than that of the UG group (P = 0.041), there was no statistically significant difference in their post-knowledge assessment score (P = 0.491). Participants had positive perceptions of GVDC in terms of usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment, with no statistically significant differences between the two groups (P > 0.05). Overall, the GVDC demonstrated positive educational impacts on acquiring knowledge and understanding of dental practice management, with participants expressing favorable perceptions of this immersive learning intervention.
口腔实践管理通常是本科和研究生课程的必修课程。然而，学习者和教育者在获得真实口腔实践经验方面可能会遇到挑战。游戏化虚拟之旅的概念可能有潜力提高口腔实践管理技能。一项准实验研究评估了游戏化虚拟牙科诊所（GVDC）对口腔本科生（UG）和研究生（PG）口腔实践管理技能的教育影响。所有参与者都被要求完成 GVDC。进行了预和后知识评估，以评估知识获取。分发了一份自我管理的问卷，以调查用户对使用 GVDC 的看法。有 20 名口腔本科生和 20 名正畸住院医师分别参加了 UG 和 PG 组。两组在完成 GVDC 后，评估分数均有统计学显著提高（P<0.001）。尽管 PG 组的预知识评估分数明显高于 UG 组（P=0.041），但他们的后知识评估分数没有统计学显著差异（P=0.491）。参与者对 GVDC 的有用性、易用性和趣味性有积极的看法，两组之间没有统计学显著差异（P>0.05）。总体而言，GVDC 在获取口腔实践管理知识和理解方面表现出积极的教育影响，参与者对这种沉浸式学习干预表示出良好的看法。
