Impact of COVID-19-Related Personal Protective Equipment Changes on Dental Education: A Qualitative Study to Explore Faculty and Student Perspective

Background. COVID-19 pandemic and its related personal protective equipment have impacted all aspects of dental education. The qualitative study assesses the impact of COVID-19-related changes and their effects on students' clinical learning from student and faculty perspectives. Methods. This qualitative study involved third- and fourth-year predoctoral dental students and full-time dental clinical faculty. A semistructured interview guide was used. The interview guide consisted of seven open-ended questions about the impact of the new COVID-19-related infection control procedures on students' learning experience in the dental clinic. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a basic interpretative approach by two independent researchers. Emerged themes were identified. Results. Twelve faculty members and 21 students participated in six focus groups. Three major themes emerged from the analysis: learning challenges, learning opportunities, and long-term impact. Students identified four categories of learning challenges: communication, visualization, clinical exposure, and heat. Five learning challenges identified by faculty were: faculty burnout, service delivery challenges, material wastage, teaching difficulties, and lack of comprehensive care. The five learning opportunities students identified were autonomy, preparedness, efficiency, safety, and personalized feedback. Learning opportunities identified by faculty were time management, autonomy, and preparedness. Three categories of long-term impact on students identified were future opportunities, adaptation, and postgraduation plans. Faculty identified apathy, career re-evaluation, and adaption as the long-term impact of COVID-19-related changes. Conclusion. Although the new COVID-19-related infection control procedures and regulations in the dental school clinical setting come with learning challenges, students and faculty also saw learning opportunities through increased autonomy, preparedness, and efficiency. The impact of COVID-19 extends beyond the current learning experiences as it may modify students' long-term plans.