Videotape review versus peer review for evaluating communication skills used by undergraduate dental students during a child’s initial dental consultation

Aim: The primary aim was to compare undergraduate dental students’ preferences of videotape and observer peer review in evaluating undergraduate dental students’ communication skills during child initial consultation. The Secondary Research aims were 1. To examine the intra- and inter-observer agreement of an established Paediatric Consultation Scale (PCAT) over a one-week period for evaluating a dental student consultation with a child-patient and their parent. 2. To assess the correlation between parental opinions concerning the quality of the consultation using a combination of the dentist-patient interaction tool and students’ opinions. Methods: A pilot study of (42) undergraduate dental students from Leeds Dental Institute together with 21 children and their parents participated in this study. Undergraduate dental students acted as either peer observers or consulting dentists. The consulting dentists conducted a first clinical visit appointment for the child and parent; the peer observers observed the consultation and recorded observations using a Paediatric Consultation Assessment Tool (PCAT). Following the completion of the consultation, the consulting dentist was asked to complete the PCAT scale to critique their own performance throughout the consultation. Furthermore, the parents were asked for their opinions of the consultation using the dentist-patient interaction tool. Finally, the consultation was videotaped by the researcher. One week later, the same peer observer and consulting dentists reviewed the videotape with the researcher. They completed a further PCAT scale, as well as a qualitative questionnaire, with the objective to explore their feelings in terms of which method they preferred, video-tape review or peer review. Results: Using framework analysis the qualitative questionnaire was evaluated and showed that the students’ prefer video review feedback. Cohen’s Kappa was used to test the agreement between students and showed slight agreement. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to test the correlation between the parental satisfaction and the students’ opinion and showed week correlation. Conclusion: The under graduate students preferred the video review over the peer review. However, the students failed to agree on the quality of the consultation and none of their opinion represented the parental opinion.