31 - Reframing an Evidence-Based Practice Course Around a Clinical Scenario

Background: This poster describes the evolution of the content of an evidence based practice course presented to residents in graduate dental programs at an oral health institute. Although librarians collaborated with dental school faculty to develop course content and assignments, librarians had primary responsibility for teaching classes and grading assignments. In 2015, the first redesign of the course resulted in a 3-hour workshop becoming a full-semester, one-credit course. The new course used the 5-A's Model of Evidence-Based Practice as a framework for lectures and assignments. The second redesign was prompted by growth of the institute's programs, and moving to online instruction.

Description: Prior to the pandemic, the oral health institute was on a growth trajectory, adding new programs and increasing average enrollment to approximately 60 new residents per year. The evidence based practice course was offered twice during the academic year to ensure class size did not exceed 30 participants, which kept time devoted to grading manageable. To make room in the academic calendar, the Curriculum Committee requested that the librarian redesign the course so that it could be offered online, only once per year. To begin, the librarian collaborated with a clinical faculty member to create a fictional patient with sufficiently broad oral health issues so as to ensure relevance and relatability for all residency programs. Next, the librarian met with instructional design specialists, who assisted the librarian with designing short writing assignments based on key information from the clinical case.

Conclusion: The Curriculum Committee deemed the newly redesigned evidence-based practice course foundational, and determined that it would be the first class taken when new residents arrived in June. Thus the new curriculum debuted at the institute in the Summer 2021 semester, with all first-year residents enrolled. The new course was well-received and had the following benefits. First, the course was taught in half the time, and enrolled twice as many students. Second, the smaller assignments enabled the residents to demonstrate competence with the material while reducing the grading burden on the librarian. Third, the residents' course evaluations showed a measurable improvement compared to previous semesters. Future developments include adding asynchronous course content, and creating new clinical scenarios designed for specialty programs.