DENTAL EDUCATION AND DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE 21 ST CENTURY

This is a proposal to promote digital citizenship for dental educators and students. This action plan is

presented to the faculty members and staff of the School of Dentistry.

Digital citizenship is a set of habits, actions and behaviors conducted when using digital technology in

today’s world. Technology permeates almost every facets of day-to-day life. Although dentistry is a rapidly

evolving and developing field, it still lags behind other professions when it comes to assuming

professional digital citizenship and implementing digital tools in education and patient care. There is a

need to prepare future dentists to be capable users of technology and conduct themselves in a manner

which is both professional and effective.

There is an overwhelming preference towards electronic patient management in healthcare. This is

largely as a response to increasing medico-legal, reimbursement, and regulatory requirements (Cusack et

al., 2012). Implementing electronic health records require dentists to be competent in entering, retrieving

and transmitting data on increasingly complex platforms. It is no longer acceptable for a dental student to

be prepared for the profession without proper digital training. Dentists need to be connected with other

dentists for consults and transfers. They need to be connected to medical doctors and other healthcare

professionals for similar reasons. Dentists need to connect with their patients and provide them with

answers for their questions and access to their dental records. Also, dentists need to be able to

communicate with all mentioned parties in a professional and responsible manner which is appropriate for

a professional digital citizen.

Also, according to Dr. Mostaghimi and Crotty in their paper titled “Professionalism in the digital age”,

doctors and dentist should develop “dual citizenship” to separate the private and public “personas”. This

ability is something that must be taught to aspiring new dentists. Gholami-Kordkheili in 2013 described

that merging the traditional core values of medicine with the new culture of the internet and social media

is not an easy challenge and needs to be addressed by members of the profession.

The goals of this proposal are:

1- Prepare dental students to be professional digital citizens

2- Enable digital tools to connect faculty members with students

3- Incorporate technology and digital tools into the dental curriculum

4- Enable patients to access electronic records, manage appointments and find answers

The plan consists of the following action steps:

1- Implementing electronic patient management systems in all clinics. This can be done by

reviewing available systems in the market and choosing a software suitable to the needs of the

dental school.

2- Installing school wide Wi-Fi and workstations in each floor. A private and secure wireless system

that promote ease of access for all students and faculty members allowing each to use its own

device or use school workstations.

3- Training faculty and staff on new software and devices. Also prepare faculty to teach students to

use digital tools.

4- Encouraging the use of online tools for teaching and student collaboration. We will need to revise

the curriculum to include digital proficiency as a required skill.

5- Hiring and establishing an information technology department to ensure privacy of data, fair use

and enable systems upkeep and maintenance. They will be the help desk for all student and

faculty questions.

Implementing our action plan proposal will enable our teachers, students to be digital citizens for the

betterment of the profession for the 21st century and beyond!

Resources:

J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2013 Jan-Feb; 20(1): 134–140.

The future state of clinical data capture and documentation: a report from AMIA's 2011 Policy Meeting - Caitlin M

Cusack,George Hripcsak, Meryl Bloomrosen, S Trent Rosenbloom, Charlotte A Weaver, Adam Wright, David K Vawdrey, Jim

Walker, and Lena Mamykina

Ann Intern Med. 2011 Apr 19;154(8):560-2.

Professionalism in the digital age. - Mostaghimi A1, Crotty BH.

J Med Internet Res. Aug 2013; 15(8): e184.

The Impact of Social Media on Medical Professionalism: A Systematic Qualitative Review of Challenges and Opportunities -

Fatemeh Gholami-Kordkheili, DDS, Verina Wild, MD, and Daniel Strech, MD, PhD

J Med Internet Res. Aug 2013; 15(8): e184.

The Impact of Social Media on Medical Professionalism: A Systematic Qualitative Review of Challenges and Opportunities -

Fatemeh Gholami-Kordkheili, DDS,1 Verina Wild, MD,2 and Daniel Strech, MD, PhD