Improving assessment in dental education through a paradigm of comprehensive care : a case report

The assessment of clinical competence in health disciplines is a critical issue. Universities have a responsibility to graduate students who can demonstrate fitness to practice because clinical competence relates directly to the quality of patients’ care—the quality of their treatment, their health outcomes, and their experience. In respect of the last of these, this article argues that the nature of what we term “clinical competence” ought to recognize the patient before the medical/dental condition or clinical intervention and, in order to achieve this, dental education should adopt learning, teaching, and assessment strategies that develop integrated learning outcomes consistent with a paradigm of comprehensive care. The article describes the ways in which this paradigm has been operationalized in the learning, teaching, and assessment strategies at Griffith University in Australia. It places a particular focus upon the assessment methods used in the Bachelor of Oral Health program. In this way, the article aims to illustrate ways that the quality of the assessment of clinical competence can, and should, be improved. While this is a work in progress, this description may be useful for educators at other academic dental institutions who wish to adopt, adapt, and develop similar approaches.