Self-assessment of students in performing clinical competencies of pediatric dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic

Students' self-assessment of clinical competencies can be a criterion to evaluate the students' clinical training needs. The present study aimed to investigate dental students' self-assessment of their ability in clinical competencies in the pediatric dentistry of Babol Faculty of Dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

71 students participated in this correlation-descriptive study. The researcher-made questionnaire with examined validity and reliability included three parts: 1. personal characteristics, 2. self-assessment questions of students regarding their ability in clinical competencies, 3. and questions about the number of treatments performed by students. The data were entered into SPSS software (22) and were analyzed with independent t-tests, ANOVA, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and descriptive indices.

A significant correlation was observed between female gender and latex In this study, among the 12 groups of clinical competencies examined, the highest level of ability was related to the extraction of deciduous teeth (80.63 ± 20.78), and the lowest level of ability was related to treating patients with systemic problems (36.61±25.99) followed by abscess of deciduous teeth treatment (49.64±24.45) and child behavior control (58.80±21.17).

Students studying during the COVID-19 pandemic evaluated their ability to perform clinical competencies in pediatric dentistry as generally medium to high. However, competency in treating patients with systemic problems, treating abscesses of deciduous teeth, and controlling child behavior did not have a suitable rank compared to competency in other groups of clinical competencies. This issue shows the necessity of planning to compensate for not achieving educational goals in the era of COVID-19.