Comparison of a custom made electronic record book database with a traditional student record book - for recording clinical procedural credits and continuous clinical assessments in Restorative Dentistry

Abstract

INTRODUCTION : Comparison of a custom designed electronic record book database with a traditional student record book in Dentistry has not been documented. AIM : To develop an electronic record book database (ERBD) to record and calculate continuous clinical assessment (CCA) marks of students in Restorative Dentistry and to compare the efficiency of the ERBD system with the traditional student record book (TSRB). METHODS : Data was obtained from 1276 dental procedures performed by fifty five consenting final year students. Clinical supervisors and students were calibrated to record credits and CCA marks on a designated assessment form. In practice, the recorded data were manually transferred to the TSRB on a daily basis. The ERBD was designed as an electronic Excel® spreadsheet which enabled daily automatic calculating and updating of credits and CCA marks for each student. After a month the times taken to transfer these data from the TSRB and the ERBD to electronic class lists were recorded in minutes and analysed using the Student’s t-test. RESULTS : Significant differences (p < 0.0001) between the times were recorded. Discussion: The administrative procedure was 14 times faster when the ERBD was used. CONCLUSION : The ERBD was significantly more efficient than the TSRB.