Comparison of dental students' performances and perceptions in preclinical and clinical pharmacology in an Irish Dental School

Introduction: Knowledge of pharmacology is essential for dental students and for its safe application in the clinical environment. Aims: The goals of our study were to assess dental students' performances in pharmacology with and without shared instruction, to investigate correlations between students' final grades in pre-clinical and clinical pharmacology, to determine if gender affects test performance and to explore characteristics of effective dental student learning. Methods: A 9 year mixed method study was undertaken comprising (i) quantitative analysis of undergraduate performances in basic and clinical pharmacology (n = 320) and (ii) quantitative and qualitative exploration of student perceptions on teaching and learning in pharmacology. Results: Mean basic pharmacology scores were not significantly different when dental students were co-taught with medical and pharmacy students. Regression analysis showed a statistically significant correlation (r = 0.582, P < 0.01) between basic and clinical pharmacology dental student scores. Interestingly, correlation was independent of gender with female student scores demonstrating a correlation of r = 0.480, P < 0.01 and males a correlation of 0.684, P < 0.01. Quantitative and qualitative feedback highlighted four thematic areas of effective dental student learning namely: (i) quality of instructors, (ii) lecture content, (iii) assessment type and (iv) learning environment. Conclusions: Teaching basic pharmacology in a multidisciplinary environment did not adversely affect dental students' examination performances. Dental students who perform well in basic pharmacology perform similarly well in clinical pharmacology. However, whether students' understanding and the application of pharmacology affects the quality of patient care in the clinical environment awaits further investigation.