Date of Award

10-9-2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Health Professions Education

First Advisor

Dr Qamar Riaz

Second Advisor

Dr Shanila Sohail

Third Advisor

Dr Shazia Babar

Department

Community Health Sciences

Abstract

Background: Endodontic Access Cavity (EAC) opening is a pivotal step in Root Canal Treatment (RCT). However, the literature is lacking in formative assessment tools of this procedure. While OSATS (Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills) has proven effective in evaluating procedural skills, there's a notable absence of such a tool in endodontics. This study aimed to address this gap.
Primary Objective: To develop OSATS tool for formative assessment of EAC opening skills of dental students on extracted teeth.
Material and Methods: This tool development and validation study commenced with the creation of a preliminary draft by an expert after exhaustive literature review and consultation with medical educationists. Rubrics and guidelines for both students and raters were meticulously formulated. The tool was then deployed via Google Forms, accompanied by guides and rubrics, and distributed for critical analysis and relevance rating as part of the content validation index (CVI). The final OSATS tool was utilized to assess 30 dental students (15 house officers [HO], 15 final year students [FY]) across three tooth types (Anterior, premolar, and molar) by two assessors (180 OSATS forms). Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS v24, reporting descriptive data via frequency and percentages. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient, while internal consistency was evaluated via Cronbach's alpha. Performance comparison between HO and FY across different tooth types utilized Mann-Whitney U tests, and intra-group comparison between tooth categories utilized Kruskal-Wallis H tests, with significance set at p ≤ 0.05.
Results: Inter-rater reliability was robust (0.83), with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.83). HO outperformed FY significantly (p < 0.05) in pre-access, initial access, and final access sub-scales, also achieving superior global ratings on premolars (p=0.003). No performance variation was observed among tooth categories for FY (p > 0.05), whereas HO demonstrated significantly better performance on premolars and anterior teeth compared to molars (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The newly developed and validated OSATS tool demonstrated strong internal consistency and inter-rater reliability, effectively discerning between students of slightly different skill levels. Further studies are warranted to contribute to its construct validity.

First Page

1

Last Page

109

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