View full sizeThis is greeting at home page of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry. (Screen capture image)The dental school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is plagued with low faculty morale, poor scheduling and a lack of hands-on practice for students, according to a report produced by a group of the school's alumni.
The report, which was based on an anonymous faculty survey and interviews with students, said many of the issues were caused by changes in the curriculum that took place several years ago.
"This report is extremely sobering, disturbing and likely hurtful to some," the report reads, adding later that the committee "wants each graduate to be an exceptionally well-trained dentist who will provide care for the citizens of Alabama."
The school's dean, Huw Thomas, said the school has taken measures in response to the report, including removing the associate dean for education and curriculum development, meeting with the faculty council and convening a curriculum review committee. He also said that the actual amount of clinic time is up from last year and that the school's students score above average on national exams.
"The committee is encouraged by the changes that the dental school is making," said Lewis Mitchell, a Gadsden dentist who is on the five-member committee that wrote the report and has also been asked to join the school's curriculum committee as an alumni representative. "A lot of changes have taken place as a result, very positive changes."
The dental alumni association's Dental Oversight Committee was created last June and has no direct administrative role in the university or dental school. The report, issued in December, was based on survey responses from 33 people identified as faculty members and confidential interviews with 10 students and one faculty member.
The results criticize Thomas and other administrators, saying faculty who responded said there is little communication or trust between teachers and administrators.
"Arguably the most critical issue facing the (school) is a significant morale problem present within the current faculty," the report said.
It also says that although the curriculum appears to function for students in their first and second years, "schedules for the junior and senior students are chaotic and unorganized and need to be improved dramatically."
In addition, it said, there are problems with the rotations designed to give students clinical training. In some cases, the students were not allowed to treat patients; in others, such as the Foundry Clinic in Bessemer, the rotation was on the calendar but there was no work to do.
"The students' training has suffered because they are not getting enough 'hands-on' clinical experience," the report said.
Thomas said that some of the problems cited may be due to misunderstandings. For example, he said, the report complains that juniors and seniors are rotated to the Fairhaven Nursing Home even though there is no clinic there and students spent time socializing with residents as well as brushing their teeth. Thomas said that rotation, which took about 3.5 days per student per year, was not intended to be clinical but rather to expose students to an older population and patients with dementia; he also said the nursing home has since received a grant to build a dental clinic on-site, and students will start practicing there when it opens this summer.
In addition, Thomas said in an e-mail, patient visits by students are up to 12,241 this year from 12,155 last year. The number of clinical procedures performed by students is equivalent year-to-year since at least 2006, and the clinical case requirements have not changed since 2000.
What has changed, he said, was the school's curriculum, which has been in transition since 2005 to align it with national trends. He said the school expected to have to make adjustments as the new rules were put in place.
"We've got increased faculty and student involvement, and from my perspective, we have a renewed commitment," Thomas said.
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