Patient Feedback Applied in Undergraduate Dental Education for Individual Student Development and Assessment: A Scoping Review

Introduction

Active involvement of patients in healthcare professional education is well established, taking a variety of forms. There is a steer towards patient feedback informing the development of dental students and while there is recognition of its potential value to individual students, challenges exist related to collection and use. What is unclear is, within a dental education setting, the extent and use of patient feedback to individual students. A scoping review was conducted to assess and map the volume and characteristics of the research/literature in this area.

Methods

Systematic searches of bibliographic databases Ovid MEDLINE(R), Scopus, ERIC and Embase were conducted, and wider literature (Google Scholar) was searched. Screening was conducted based on eligibility criteria and a customised data charting form was used.

Results

The electronic and citation tracking searches identified 1021 studies. After duplicates were removed, 778 studies were screened by title and abstract, and 718 studies were found to be irrelevant to the current review. Sixty full-text studies were assessed for eligibility, 46 studies were excluded, and 14 studies were included for data charting.

Conclusion

This review has identified that patient feedback has been captured through both simulated and real patient encounters. There was a bias towards feedback generated through simulated patient encounters. Feedback was reported to support the development of a range of skills, most frequently communication and patient management. Challenges that were identified by researchers related to staff/student engagement and available resources.