Preventive
Casey A. White, DMD (she/her/hers)
Second Year Resident
The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH
The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children's Hospital, Ohio, United States
Homa Amini, DDS, MS, MPH
Nationwide Children's Hospital and Ohio State University
Erin Gross, DDS, PhD, MS
Nationwide Children's Hospital/The Ohio State University
Janice Townsend, DDS, MS
Nationwide Children's Hospital/The Ohio State University
Kim Hammersmith, DDS, MPH, MS
Program Director
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Purpose: The aim of this pre-post design study was to determine the usability and feasibility of a virtual simulation-based learning experience to educate dental providers regarding HPV and the HPV vaccine.
Methods: Sixteen residents at one pediatric dental residency program in Ohio were recruited. All residents completed a pre-simulation survey to assess their baseline knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward discussing HPV with patients. Residents then completed a tele-health standardized patient encounter where they were tasked with discussing HPV and the HPV vaccine with a teenage patient and their parent at a new patient appointment. All residents then completed a virtual simulation-based learning experience. Following this exercise, residents repeated the same standardized patient encounter. All subjects finally completed a post-simulation survey to assess changes to their knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward discussing HPV after their participation in the standardized patient encounters and the virtual learning module.
Results: Results of the pre and post survey responses were compared using the paired Wilcoxon signed rank test. A significant difference existed in responses between pre and post survey results for all questions except questions on discussing the HPV vaccine's mechanism of action (p-value = 0.088 > 0.05), utilizing open ended questions (adjusted p-value = 0.7304 > 0.05), and utilizing the teach back technique (adjusted p-value = 1). All other responses (8 of 11 questions) had a significant difference between pre and post at significance level α = 0.05.
Conclusion: The results of this study show that virtual learning experiences are an accessible and effective way to significantly improve dental providers knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to discussions about HPV and the HPV vaccine with adolescent patients and their guardians.