Incorporating Humanities in Dental Education is Essential, but Seldom Routine

Humanities form an integral part of undergraduate medical curricula at numerous medical schools all over the world, and medical journals publish a considerable quantity of articles in this field. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the literature on humanities in undergraduate medical education seeks to provide evidence of a long-term impact of this integration of humanities in undergraduate medical education. Medline was searched for publications concerning the humanities in undergraduate medical education appearing from January 2000 to December 2008. All articles were manually sorted by the authors. Two hundred forty-five articles were included in the study. Following a qualitative analysis, the references included were categorized as "pleading the case," "course descriptions and evaluations," "seeking evidence of long-term impact," or "holding the horses." Two hundred twenty-four articles out of 245 either praised the (potential) effects of humanities on medical education or described existing or planned courses without offering substantial evidence of any long-term impact of these curricular activities on medical proficiency. Only 9 articles provided evidence of attempts to document long-term impacts using diverse test tools, and 10 articles presented relatively reserved attitudes toward humanities in undergraduate medical education. Evidence on the positive long-term impacts of integrating humanities into undergraduate medical education is sparse. This may pose a threat to the continued development of humanities-related activities in undergraduate medical education in the context of current demands for evidence to demonstrate educational effectiveness.

This study considers the role and status of the teaching of ethics on the dental undergraduate curriculum. The study reviews current developments in the delivery of dental ethics education and in particular focuses on the development of new pedagogies and curricula content. The study then critically considers the consequences of a squeezed curricula and the consequent reliance on professional regulation as shorthand for the ethical development of students. The study concludes that, although great strides have been made in improving the teaching of ethics in dental education, further dialogue is needed to better include patient views and develop a more theoretically robust approach to self-reflection.

Background The ability of the dental profession to self-regulate and address poor performance or impairment is crucial if practitioners are to demonstrate a public commitment to patient safety. Failure of the profession to actively engage in this activity is likely to call into question trustworthiness and ability to place the interests of patients and the public first.Aim To investigate attitudes towards self-regulation and the raising of concerns as expressed through the ethical codes of different dental professional and regulatory organisations.Method A qualitative review of professional codes of ethics written and published by dental associations and regulatory bodies using thematic analysis to discern common attitudes and perspectives on self-regulation.Results Four main themes were identified; (1) explicit expression of the need to report; (2) warning against frivolous reporting; (3) acceptance of reporting being difficult and; (4) threshold requiring a professional to report. From these themes, common and differing attitudes were then explored.Conclusions This review shows that often codes of ethics and practice do discuss an obligation to self-regulate and raise concerns but that this is accompanied by an anxiety surrounding unsubstantiated or malicious reporting. This gives the collective guidance a defensive tone and message that may be unhelpful in promoting a culture of openness and candour.