Efficacy of Providing a Study Guide with Smart Phone, Based on Tritapp Application (Social Special Medical Network Software) in Fundamental Endodontic Course

Using smart phone and social media in medical education  get popular. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of providing a study guide and rules of endodontics department with smart phone based on Tritapp application as one of the special medical social networks on general dentistry students' satisfaction and self- reporting of their capabilites in fundamental endodontics course.

This quasi- experimental study was performed on fourth year general dentistry students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Endodontics Basics course. The students were divided into two equal random groups. In the control group, the rules and textbook of practical endodontics basics were presented in the relevant common method, while in the experimental group, in addition to the usual method of endo department, the rules of endo department were presented using the social network Tritapp.Then, in order to assess satisfaction, at the end of the course, a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring satisfaction was provided to students. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using Chi- square, t- test and Mann- Whitney statistical tests through SPSS.

The evaluation of students' satisfaction with Tritapp software showed that in the field of TritApp design 44.5%, in the field of easy application and use of the software, 55.5%, in the field of receiving appropriate and complete answers from the support system, 27.8%, and in the field of this software being helpful in the corona pandemic period, 83.4% answered in the affirmative and strongly agreed state.Despite the overall level of satisfaction with the study guide and department rules between the intervention group and the control group there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05), but descriptively, in the intervention group, higher satisfaction was observed than the control group, in a way that all the students in the intervention group (100%) believed that the use of TritApp software as a teaching application helps to provide a study guide and endodontic department rules that will prevent the students from going astray and wasting time. Also, there was no statistically significant difference between students in the intervention group and the control group in the field of self- expression of competence (p>0.05).

In both groups, satisfaction of providing a study guide and self-expression of competency were the same. It seems that the student support in conventional mode and by social media affect similar on satisfaction of dental students in fundamental endodontic course.