Medical legislation - educational needs assessment for dental students.

Rationale (hypothesis): Many studies have highlighted the vulnerabilities in medical practice due to the legislation ignorance. Therefore, developing special programs for students training is needed and has become imperative. Objective: This research aimed to identify the educational needs for the 5th year students in "Carol Davila" School of Dentistry in Bucharest, related to the legislation in dentistry and its area of application. Methods and results: 199 students were invited to respond to a specially designed questionnaire. The questionnaire had 11 closed-response questions and the answers were statistically analyzed. The results indicated many educational needs in all the areas of investigation. Discussion: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy is the first university in Romania that created a new discipline in the School of Dentistry, called Work Organization and Legislation in Medicine and Dentistry.

Use of social media in dental schools: pluses, perils, and pitfalls from a legal perspective.

One of the ways dental education is changing the way it is preparing the next generation of learners is through efficient utilization of interactive social media. Social media, which facilitates interaction and sharing of new ideas, is being utilized to educate students, residents, and faculty. Unfortunately, as with most improvements in technology, there are growing pains. Faculty, student, and patient interaction on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, can lead to inappropriate or embarrassing situations. Striking the appropriate balance between free speech rights of students and faculty and the need for colleges and universities to have efficient operations is often left to the judicial system. The concepts of free speech and contract law and how each is applied in educational settings should be understood by students, faculty, and administrators. This article provides a review of legal cases that led to current social media policies, as well as present-day cases that exemplify the application of these principles, to help dental educators gain a greater understanding of the boundaries of protected speech. It also provides a set of sample guidelines for communicating through these media.

[Does patient safety justify mandatory vaccinations?]. / Rechtfertigt der Patientenschutz verpflichtende Impfungen?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Medical and dental students belong to a group of health care workers (HCWs) who are frequently exposed to patients with occupationally transmissible infectious diseases. Vaccinations are the most effective interventions to protect HCWs and patients from vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. Despite decades of effort to encourage HCWs to be immunized, vaccination levels (e. g. influenza) remain insufficient. METHODS: To assess the attitudes of German medical and dental students towards mandatory immunizations, an anonymous questionnaire was offered to medical and dental students of the University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Overall, 56.9 % (1823/3200) of all medical and dental students attended to the study. RESULTS: This study - so far the largest study done on this issue - showed that almost 88.5 % of the responding medical and dental students would accept mandatory vaccinations for HCWs. CONCLUSION: Contrary to the widespread concern that a vaccination requirement would cause resistance, our data support that mandatory vaccinations (at least for HCWs who care for immunocompromised patients) might be widely accepted.

Student-to-student local anesthesia injections in dental education: moral, ethical, and legal issues.

This article reports the findings of a survey-based study conducted to determine U.S. dental schools' institutional protocols regarding the practice of students' administering local anesthetic injections to fellow students as part of their process of learning this skill. The majority of schools ask students to practice local anesthetic injections on each other without obtaining informed consent.

Accommodating dental students with disabilities.

The passage of The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) has broadened the legal protection afforded students with disabilities. Since it is most likely that dental schools, or their parent universities, have been in compliance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, they should experience minor additional requirements, in the academic arena, from the ADA. Dental schools increasingly will be asked to consider the special needs of disabled students, and may encounter conflicts between students' accommodation needs and clinical requirements and academic standards. This paper reviews federal law that protects the disabled from discrimination. More specifically, federal court decisions that have interpreted federal law were examined to see how the respective interests of disabled professional students and school administrators were treated.

[HIV and dentistry. Part 7. The HIV positive dentist or student]. / HIV en tandheelkunde. Deel 7. De HIV-seropositieve tandarts of student.

What should a dentist or dental student do when he happens to be HIV-seropositive? Should he or she disclose the disease to the patients or, in case of a student, to the university? Does he has to give up his practice or perhaps not even open one? Apparently, the legal regulations differ in various parts of the world. In the Netherlands dentists are advised to take their own responsibility in this matter.

Management considerations for an HIV positive dental student; ethical and legal commentary.

This article provides an ethical and legal analysis of a previously reported case involving an HIV-positive dental student at the Medical College of Georgia. We conclude that the college acted appropriately from an ethical point of view and probably exceeded its legal obligations to accommodate the student.

Procedural due process in the dismissal of residents.

Legal commentators and court decisions have defined, generally, procedural due process for students and faculty in institutions of higher learning. Dental residents (GPRs, oral surgery residents, etc.) occupy a unique niche in this educational structure. On the one hand they are students pursuing advanced training; on the other, they are employees and instructors in a hospital or similar institution. As advanced student-clinicians, residents have significant autonomy in patient care. Those who are charged with monitoring a resident's care can be held liable for the resident's negligence. Hospital administrators and residency program directors have concerns about minimizing the chances of malpractice liability, while simultaneously having to observe procedural due process guarantees when a resident's performance mandates dismissal or suspension. This article will briefly review procedural due process issues concerning dismissal or suspension of students and faculty. Court decisions involving dismissal of medical and dental residents will be analyzed to see if the courts follow the student model or faculty model. The cases will demonstrate that the courts generally follow the faculty due process model when residents are suspended or dismissed. Key administrative law decisions will briefly be reviewed that point out the differences of opinion existing over the student/employee status of residents. Also, it will be shown that when patient safety is at stake, procedural due process guarantees can be modified to allow immediate suspension or dismissal of the resident.