ADHA Access — March 2012
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Strive Special
Evaluating Research
Sharri Crowe, RDH, BSDH, MS teaches a community dental health course at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisc. To address the need for critical thinking in the selection, reading and understanding of clinical research, and to familiarize her class with the research process, Crowe assigned the students to select a topic of their choice, gather eight to 12 peer-reviewed articles about the topic; read, compare and critique the articles; write a literature review about the findings; and present a table clinic based on the research at the Wisconsin Dental Hygienists’ Indigo Conference in October 2011.
Working in groups, students chose as topics anesthetic reversal, halitosis, human papillomavirus (HPV), laser use in nonsurgical periodontal therapy, probiotics, and tooth regeneration. Most of the students searched for articles online using databases such as EBSCOhost and PubMed, along with university-based research tools. They obtained copies of the articles and then selected additional sources from their citations. Other online resources included the Oral Cancer Foundation website (HPV group), the American Dental Association website, the OraVerse website and an interview with an OraVerse representative (anesthetic reversal group).
As yet one more step on their long and labor-intensive research journey, the students took time to reflect on their experience for Access. The groups had different approaches to selecting their topics; the laser group was inspired by a seminar while the probiotics group got their idea in class.
Amber Jentz explained how her group decided on a topic.“It was based on the need for awareness,” she said. “HPV is infecting more and more people each year, and dental professionals are in a unique position to create that awareness with their patients and help in early detection of HPV.”
Given that the assignment was made to address a specific need for experience conducting scholarly research, the students found themselves with a new appreciation for the activity. Amanda Harbath said she felt differently about research after completing the assignment. “At first I did not understand why we needed seven to 10 different peer-reviewed articles, but after I read through them all and started to put information together, I found some information to match and some to contradict,” she said. “I found it very exciting when information matched another journal article and had fun putting all of the information together.”
“I have gained a lot of respect for those who research new products and write reviews or critiques,” added Amy Walter. “It takes a lot of time gathering all the information and processing it all to develop a critique.”
Laura Hintz agreed. “I didn’t realize how much time it took to conduct a literature review. It was very timeconsuming to go through all the different articles to find the ones with the most valid information,” she said, adding, “Once I read over the end product, I was very pleased with how it turned out.”
The assignment gave Alisha Tennessen of the lasers group a different insight. “I understand why the need of references is important, along with why the Internet is not always the best reliable resource,” she said.
Macey Grifftth also took away an appreciation for valid information. “It is easy to Google search a topic and find many articles about a topic; however, it is not easy and requires much work to sift through those articles to make sure the source is credible and accurate,” she said. “It was also a challenge to then decipher each journal so that it made sense to us.”
“I now have a great awareness for what resources provide reliability and validity,” added Hailey Oehlke, who investigated probiotics. “I know the many hours that goes Into creating your own article, and I can appreciate others’ articles much more.”
“I commend those people who commit their lives to research to help better the world,” said Rachel Cole. “Research takes time, commitment and sometimes trial and error to accomplish the final results.”
Now that their assignment is complete, do the students see themselves conducting research in the future? Most do.
“I feel that there is always a need for research, and I am positive that if I find something that piques my interest I will gladly conduct research,” said Kelly Hernandez, who said she selected halitosis as her topic because the different classi..cations and their treatments intrigued her.
Hannah Boushley said she will conduct research as the need arises and base her approach on the assignment. “After the amount of research done, I felt very con..dent in my table clinic presentation,” she said. “If the time would ever come I would need to put together a presentation, I would definitely prepare similarly to how this project was done.” “Having the knowledge about up-and-coming topics such as tooth regeneration has made me feel as though I have a heads-up on this certain subject,” added Karleah Edseth. “I would like that feeling for other topics in the dental field.”
Will Sweeney agreed. “I am in a field that deals with new technology daily,” he said. “Research still lags behind technology. Many of the studies published are eight to 10 years old and are still being used to form opinions on laser use even though lasers have undergone eight to 10 years of change and growth. Keeping up with new products and procedures is crucial to great patient care.”
“I feel this has been a very helpful assignment for me,” said Kayla Lorge, summarizing her experience. “I think learning all aspects of what a dental hygienist is capable of is very beneficial to my success as a dental hygienist.”
“This table clinic presentation and the overall research that was involved to complete this project challenged all of us to organize evidence-based information and condense all of the information to complete the paper and the table clinic,” said Amanda Rose. “This research and table clinic provided a great opportunity to expand our horizons as students and future dental hygienists.”
This edition of Strive Special was compiled from written interviews with the students, facilitated by Sharri Crowe, RDH, BSDH, MS.
Sharri Crowe, RDH, BSDH, MS teaches a community dental health course at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisc. To address the need for critical thinking in the selection, reading and understanding of clinical research, and to familiarize her class with the research process, Crowe assigned the students to select a topic of their choice, gather eight to 12 peer-reviewed articles about the topic; read, compare and critique the articles; write a literature review about the findings; and present a table clinic based on the research at the Wisconsin Dental Hygienists’ Indigo Conference in October 2011.
Working in groups, students chose as topics anesthetic reversal, halitosis, human papillomavirus (HPV), laser use in nonsurgical periodontal therapy, probiotics, and tooth regeneration. Most of the students searched for articles online using databases such as EBSCOhost and PubMed, along with university-based research tools. They obtained copies of the articles and then selected additional sources from their citations. Other online resources included the Oral Cancer Foundation website (HPV group), the American Dental Association website, the OraVerse website and an interview with an OraVerse representative (anesthetic reversal group).
As yet one more step on their long and labor-intensive research journey, the students took time to reflect on their experience for Access. The groups had different approaches to selecting their topics; the laser group was inspired by a seminar while the probiotics group got their idea in class.
Amber Jentz explained how her group decided on a topic.“It was based on the need for awareness,” she said. “HPV is infecting more and more people each year, and dental professionals are in a unique position to create that awareness with their patients and help in early detection of HPV.”
Given that the assignment was made to address a specific need for experience conducting scholarly research, the students found themselves with a new appreciation for the activity. Amanda Harbath said she felt differently about research after completing the assignment. “At first I did not understand why we needed seven to 10 different peer-reviewed articles, but after I read through them all and started to put information together, I found some information to match and some to contradict,” she said. “I found it very exciting when information matched another journal article and had fun putting all of the information together.”
“I have gained a lot of respect for those who research new products and write reviews or critiques,” added Amy Walter. “It takes a lot of time gathering all the information and processing it all to develop a critique.”
Laura Hintz agreed. “I didn’t realize how much time it took to conduct a literature review. It was very timeconsuming to go through all the different articles to find the ones with the most valid information,” she said, adding, “Once I read over the end product, I was very pleased with how it turned out.”
The assignment gave Alisha Tennessen of the lasers group a different insight. “I understand why the need of references is important, along with why the Internet is not always the best reliable resource,” she said.
Macey Grifftth also took away an appreciation for valid information. “It is easy to Google search a topic and find many articles about a topic; however, it is not easy and requires much work to sift through those articles to make sure the source is credible and accurate,” she said. “It was also a challenge to then decipher each journal so that it made sense to us.”
“I now have a great awareness for what resources provide reliability and validity,” added Hailey Oehlke, who investigated probiotics. “I know the many hours that goes Into creating your own article, and I can appreciate others’ articles much more.”
“I commend those people who commit their lives to research to help better the world,” said Rachel Cole. “Research takes time, commitment and sometimes trial and error to accomplish the final results.”
Now that their assignment is complete, do the students see themselves conducting research in the future? Most do.
“I feel that there is always a need for research, and I am positive that if I find something that piques my interest I will gladly conduct research,” said Kelly Hernandez, who said she selected halitosis as her topic because the different classi..cations and their treatments intrigued her.
Hannah Boushley said she will conduct research as the need arises and base her approach on the assignment. “After the amount of research done, I felt very con..dent in my table clinic presentation,” she said. “If the time would ever come I would need to put together a presentation, I would definitely prepare similarly to how this project was done.” “Having the knowledge about up-and-coming topics such as tooth regeneration has made me feel as though I have a heads-up on this certain subject,” added Karleah Edseth. “I would like that feeling for other topics in the dental field.”
Will Sweeney agreed. “I am in a field that deals with new technology daily,” he said. “Research still lags behind technology. Many of the studies published are eight to 10 years old and are still being used to form opinions on laser use even though lasers have undergone eight to 10 years of change and growth. Keeping up with new products and procedures is crucial to great patient care.”
“I feel this has been a very helpful assignment for me,” said Kayla Lorge, summarizing her experience. “I think learning all aspects of what a dental hygienist is capable of is very beneficial to my success as a dental hygienist.”
“This table clinic presentation and the overall research that was involved to complete this project challenged all of us to organize evidence-based information and condense all of the information to complete the paper and the table clinic,” said Amanda Rose. “This research and table clinic provided a great opportunity to expand our horizons as students and future dental hygienists.”
This edition of Strive Special was compiled from written interviews with the students, facilitated by Sharri Crowe, RDH, BSDH, MS.
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