E-learning on medical emergencies for Dentistry students: a randomized controlled trial / E-learning em emergências médicas para estudantes de Odontologia: um ensaio clínico randomizado

ABSTRACT

This study comparedtwo teaching pedagogies to addressmedical emergencies in dental officevisitsandevaluateddental school students' knowledge about medical emergencies.This randomized controlled trial involved54senior undergraduate dental students at theFederal University of Santa Mariadivided in two groupsstudents who received instruction via face-to-face traditional expository class;andstudents whoreceived the same instruction via distant learning format.The students were randomly allocated to the groupsby the randomiser.orgwebsite. Data were obtained by comparing the scores students received from answering to a semi-structured questionnaire containing inquiries on ethical and legal implications, and diagnosis and management of medicalemergencies in a dental officebefore and after the instruction. Before the instruction, 96%of studentsfrom the two groupslackedknowledge about the ethical and legal implications related to the dentist obligation to deal with medical emergencies. After the instruction, both groups increasedtheir knowledge similarly as there was no significant difference in the comparison between learning about medical emergencies through lectures and thorough an e-learning format.Both teaching methods presented satisfactory results, which makes the e-learning method an option as a didactic strategy (AU).