Comparison of the Assessment of Dental Students’ Laboratory Performance through MCQ and DOPS Methods

Background and purpose: Training in laboratory for clinical procedural skills is considered an important part of the core undergraduate dental curriculum. There is some evidence that junior dentists are not adequately trained in these skills. The present study was conducted to compare the assessment of dentistry students’ competence and performance through direct observation of procedural skills (DOPS) and MCQ methods in fixed prosthesis course.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on dental students in Shiraz in 2007. The subjects of this study consisted of 54 students who underwent the current format of assessment (DOPS). The instructors evaluated the students’ activity weekly by checklists and evaluation forms provided by the authorities in the administrative and education development office of dental school. They were also assessed by a 20 item MCQ test. The data were analyzed by SPSS software, using frequency distribution mean.Results: The findings revealed that 86.7% of the students in different fields of dentistry had desirable performance and 13/3 % of them had undesirable practical performance, not functioning satisfactorily in their workplace. In this study, there was a direct relationship between the graduates’ average scores and the quality of their performance.Conclusion: DOPS is a useful tool for assessment of dental students’ practical laboratory competence. It is believed that we now have a system for workplace assessment of dental trainees in the laboratory.