Curriculum for training module on Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) for Dental Specialists: A Need Assessment Study.

ABSTRACT

Abstracts Background and Objectives: A needs assessment study is recommended as the foundation of any curriculum development process. In India, CBCT has lately gained popularity as preferred imaging modality. However, CBCT is included neither in the Under graduate nor the Post graduate dental curriculum. There is also a lack of any standardized training modules on CBCT. Hence, the overall goal of this project was to conduct the educational need assessment amongst the dental practitioners, in order to design a curriculum for training module on Cone Beam computed Tomography (CBCT). Methodology: Need assessment was done by recruiting the structured questionnaire method which included item generation by literature review and a consensus development survey amongst 50 dental specialists. This was complemented with the opinion of the experts in the field. Results & Conclusion: We developed a consensus on 14 items for inclusion in the curriculum for training the dental specialists in CBCT. The study results indicate a definite gap in knowledge of CBCT applications amongst the dental specialists. The major concern of the dental specialists is the lack of awareness regarding the appropriate and optimum use of this relatively new imaging technology. A strong perceived need of training in this field was evident amongst the dental specialists, and the same in reflected in the experts’ opinion.