Critical thinking skills among the oral medicine postgraduate students of Tamilnadu and Puducherry - A pilot study

Background: Critical thinking is the mental process of active and skillful perception, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of collected information through observation, experience, and communication that leads to a decision for action. Critical thinking applies to dentists in the process of solving the clinical conditions of patients and making crucial decisions for diagnosis and intervention. Aim: To assess the critical thinking skills (CTS) among oral medicine postgraduate students of dental colleges in Tamilnadu and Puducherry. Methodology: A convenience sampling method was used. The clinical scenario-based validated self-designed structured questionnaire was administered. The questionnaire was prepared using Google forms and the link was sent through WhatsApp among Oral Medicine postgraduate students. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: A total of 49 responses were obtained. The participants who obtained the score >5 were considered to be high-level critical thinkers and those who obtained a score <= 5 were considered to be low-level critical thinkers. High-level critical thinkers among first, second, and third year postgraduates are 2 (12.5), 7 (43.8), and 7 (43.8). Similarly, low-level critical thinkers are 12 (36.4), 10 (30.3), and 11 (33.3) respectively. The association between the years of course and critical thinking skills were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The subjects with higher critical thinking score were less among oral medicine postgraduate students. Therefore, it is essential to pay more attention to improving critical thinking in clinical practice.