Impact of Dental Students' Faculty Group Leader, Intended Postgraduate Training, and Clinic Schedule on Their Clinical Performance: A Retrospective Study at a U.S. Dental School.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dental students' faculty group leader in clinic, intended postgraduate training, and clinic schedule on their clinical performance. This retrospective study used de-identified transcript data from the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine Classes of 2013, 2014, and 2015, a total of 238 students. The impact factors analyzed were the assigned faculty member who served as clinical group leader and mentor; area of students' intended postgraduate training; and variations in timing of students' summer clinic assignments and vacations. Clinical performance, consistent with the school's graduation criteria, was measured with summative assessments (completion of competencies); completion of care for patients assigned (case completions); and overall patient encounter rate. The results showed that group leader assignment correlated with significant differences among students in completion of cases (p=0.001), competencies completed (p<0.001), and patient encounter rate (p=0.018). Students who intended to pursue general practice residencies and prosthodontics specialty training completed fewer cases than students pursuing other types of postgraduate training (p<0.001). Students who had full-time clinic in June and vacation later in the summer of their third- to fourth-year transition completed more cases (p<0.001), completed more competencies (p=0.008), and had more patient visits (p=0.012) than those who had full-time clinic later in the summer. There were significant correlations among case completions, completion of competencies, and patient encounter rate. Overall, this study found that the students' intended postgraduate training, clinic schedules, and faculty mentors influenced their progress in clinical training and should be taken into consideration in student evaluation and patient care.