Cultural competency in dental care

Abstract

Aim: To assess the effectiveness of the cultural competency curriculum offered to DMD II students in their awareness, knowledge and skills in providing a culturally competent care compare to DMD 1 students. Methods: This study consisted of DMD 1 and DMD II students from Boston University School of Dental Medicine as sample population. A modified pre tested questionnaire was distributed to the students at the end of a class, with prior permission from the professor in-charge to assess and compare the perceived awareness, knowledge and skills between DMD 1 and DMD II Students. Data was coded and entered into a customized database entry from in Epi Info Version 3.3.2. Data was then exported into Microsoft Excel where it was cleaned, and exported to SAS version 9.1 where descriptive and bivariate analysis was performed with dichotomized and non dichotomized data. Result: A total of 186 surveys were analyzed of which 22% (41) were DMD 1 respondents and 78% (145) DMD II respondents. The awareness and knowledge in delivering culturally competent care seemed higher for DMD 1 students (7.5[plus or minus]1.0 - awareness, 10.3[plus or minus]1.6 - knowledge) who have no prior exposure to cultural competency as compared to DMD II students (7.1[plus or minus]1.4 - awareness, 10.1[plus or minus]1.9 - knowledge), indicating they may have overestimated their perceptions. However, DMD II students (20.8[plus or minus]3.6) who did have cultural competency in their curriculum indicated better skills in providing culturally competent care as compared to DMD 1 student (19.9[plus or minus]3.3). Conclusion: Study suggests that students provided with curriculum in cultural competency show a positive impact in their perceived skills in providing culturally competent care, hence indicating a need for more dental schools to provide a curriculum in cultural competence to better prepare their students in treating an increasingly diverse patient population.