| Unit name | Year 4 BDS |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ORDS30025 |
| Credit points | 120 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Dr. Ali van den Berg |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
Successful progression from Year 3 BDS21 |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Bristol Dental School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health Sciences |
The Year 4 BDS21 unit aims to build on Year 1-3 teaching by developing the breadth and depth of students’ clinical and patient management skills, enhancing their understanding of oral diseases and their treatment.
Year 4 teaching will maintain a strong focus on student wellbeing and study skills and students will be encouraged to continue their personal development.
Basic science teaching will be applied to patient management and care in different clinical contexts. Students will be able to revisit and consolidate their existing knowledge of the medical conditions affecting their patients when they meet and treat them in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Medicine and Urgent Dental Care (UDC).
Case-based sessions will continue in Year 4, enabling students to review, assimilate and consolidate their scientific and clinical teaching and encouraging a holistic view of people who seek / require dental treatment.
Students will choose and develop a clinical question to be answered and written-up in the form of an evidence summary.
Students will continue to develop their understanding of consent and the communication of risk and will revisit the concept of candour via a workshop on “whistle-blowing”.
In Restorative dentistry, students will continue to assess and treat adult restorative patients, practicing advanced restorative procedures such as crowns, bridges, endodontics and removable prosthodontics and maintaining their periodontal skills.
Clinical sessions to treat paediatric patients will continue throughout Year 4, supported by teaching in advanced behaviour management techniques, including inhalation sedation. Orthodontics will be a significant feature of Year 4 with small group tutorial teaching supporting orthodontic patient treatment sessions.
In Radiology, students will extend their study to include Maxillofacial Radiology, closely integrating with their new learning in Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, UDC, Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics.
Unit Aims:
Year 4 continues the delivery of the GDC Preparing for Practice intended ILOs (ILOs, 2015) which commenced in Year 1. Most ILOs will continue to be delivered throughout subsequent years of the programme and all will be fully met by the end of Year 5.
Bold: New ILOs in Year 4
A. Knowledge and Understanding
B. Intellectual Skills and Attributes
C. Other Skills and Attributes (practical / professional / transferable)
The teaching and learning methods to be adopted in Year 4 reflect the aim of developing students as adult learners, whilst recognising that this process takes time. Students should be aware that approaches to teaching are designed to encourage the transition from undergraduate student to professional heath care practitioner. They should learn to study with the support of their peers (dental students from same and different year cohorts and BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy students), mentors and lecturers. All students will have access to dentists, scientists, researchers, allied health professionals and community health teams as appropriate.
Year 4 will utilise a variety of teaching methods as listed below:
Lecture-style sessions may include interactive approaches, such as Turning Point student voting systems, ‘flipped classrooms’, break-out discussion and activity groups. Those who teach topics that comprise the scientific basis of heath and disease will be required to identify and emphasise the dental and clinical relevance of any content they cover.
The teaching and supervision of students as they treat patients on clinic will be provided by dentally qualified clinical supervisors. Clinical sessions will commence with clinical discussion of students’ patient cases, either individually or within small groups. Each supervisor will be responsible for a small group of students and provide chairside teaching relevant to the clinical procedure as appropriate to the level and experience of the student. Feedback to and grading of the student (clinical skills, knowledge and professionalism) will be provided for each patient case, both through verbal discussion and in writing using an electronic portfolio system.
The observation of qualified dental staff in various specialty dental clinics will be a feature of Year 4. Students will attend in small groups in order to maximise observation opportunities and enable them to contribute to and learn by the management of patient cases, as appropriate within each clinical specialty.
Integrated teaching
Professional actors will act as patients in small integrated group sessions for clinical communication and ethics, law and professionalism teaching as appropriate. Clinical assisting and peer learning opportunities between Year 4 BDS students and BSc students will continue. Similarly, practical procedures and integrated learning with the full dental team are highly valued for their teamwork opportunities and to further develop students’ understanding of each other’s scope of practice, treatment planning and how to refer to other members of the team.
Case-based sessions in Terms 1 and 2 will integrate key concepts and reinforce links between clinical dentistry and scientific basis of dentistry topics.
Summative assessment
An integrated, programmatic assessment delivered at the end of Year 4, comprising four parts. The first attempt at Year 4 Summative Assessments will be taken in May/June and, if required, as a second attempt in July. These examinations test students’ application of the knowledge derived from Year 1, 2 and 3 learning opportunities.
Part 1) Multiple Short Answer (MSA)
Part 2) Single Best Answer (SBA) eAssessment:
Part 3) Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
Part 4) Unseen clinical cases
Students will be required to achieve a minimum aggregated score of 50% between Parts 1 and 2 to pass the Unit. Compensation will be allowed between Parts 1 and 2, providing a minimum score of 45% in either Part is achieved.
Students will be required to achieve a minimum score of 50% and have passed two thirds of the OSCE stations for Part 3 to pass the Unit.
Students will be required to achieve a minimum score of 50% for Part 4 pass the Unit.
No compensation is permitted between Parts 3 and 4.
Formative assessments & engagement milestones
Students must satisfy all engagement requirements and successfully complete all 'must pass' assessments, as set out in the student progression requirements for Year 4 in the BDS Assessment Handbook.
Satisfactory and appropriate engagement with the programme will be determined by the Progress Committee which will normally meet termly. The committee will monitor engagement against the engagement and progression criteria, review performance in formative and 'must pass' assessments and monitor levels of professionalism.
A student who has not demonstrated satisfactory and appropriate engagement with the programme, nor reached a satisfactory level of professionalism (as determined by level of engagement and any other evidence relating to professionalism presented to the Progress Committee) will not be permitted to sit the End of Year 4 Summative Assessments and thus will not be able be progress to Year 5.
In accordance with University regulations, students will be permitted two attempts at summative assessments in Year 4 BDS21. Dependent on extenuating circumstances, a student may be permitted a second attempt at Year 4 or otherwise will be required to withdraw from the programme.
Progression to Year 5
In order to progress to Year 5 of the BDS programme students must pass the End of Year 4 assessments at first or second (resit) attempt as determined by the Board of Examiners. The pass marks for the Year 4 assessments (Parts 1-3) will be determined by a formal standard setting process. The pass mark for Part 4 (which is criterion marked) will be set at 50%.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ORDS30025).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
