Clinical assessment in dental education: A new method

Among the many challenges that face modern dental schools is the developmen t of appropriate assessment systems. The more litigious nature of modern ed ucation makes it important that the systems developed are transparent and c an withstand the processes of legal challenge. Coupled with this demand for robust assessment is a growing demand from universities and health provide rs for dental schools to keep rigorous records of student clinical producti vity. This brief review outlines a system developed at the School of Oral H ealth Sciences at the University of Western Australia. The system integrate s both qualitative and quantitative assessment and uses criterion-based ass essment as its foundation. Detailed analysis and real-time reporting mechan isms using a suite of personally written software tools is now possible. Th e system provides both students and staff with effective data to enhance th e learning process.