DH 202: Evidence Based Dental Hygiene Practice

A dental hygienist quickly recognizes that the bleeding from a patient's gums is a symptom of a lack of regular flossing. This determination is an example of which component of the evidence-based decision-making process?

Clinicians' experience and judgment

Mr. Synder is a 40-year-old construction worker who is new to the dental practice. In your initial assessment of Mr. Snyder, you note some blackened, stained, and rotting teeth, symptoms that you have heard are associated with drug abuse. You have no experience in working with such cases, and you decide that you would like to conduct some research to learn about which drugs, if any, lead to such symptoms, how the drug affects the teeth, and what kind of treatment options are available for the patient.

In conducting your research, which type of research would be best to consult to determine the effects of drug abuse over time on a group of research subjects?

Cohort Study

In which step in the systematic approach to evidence-based dental hygiene practice would you decide whether additional search strategies and information are needed?

Evaluate results

In which step in the systematic approach to evidence-based dental hygiene practice would you evaluate the validity of a study?

Analyze evidence

Mr. Synder is a 40-year-old construction worker who is new to the dental practice. In your initial assessment of Mr. Snyder, you note some blackened, stained, and rotting teeth, symptoms that you have heard are associated with drug abuse. You have no experience in working with such cases, and you decide that you would like to conduct some research to learn about which drugs, if any, lead to such symptoms, how the drug affects the teeth, and what kind of treatment options are available for the patient.

Suppose that you would like to conduct your own research on this topic and that you would like to enlist this patient as a participant in the study. Which of the following would not be required to conduct the study?

A release from the patient allowing you to publicize his name in connection with the study results

The "I" in the acronym PICO (which indicates key parts of a researchable question) stands for which of the following?

intervention

What is the first step in the systematic approach to evidence-based dental hygiene practice?

Determine clinical issue

Whether a source provides reference citations is a good indicator of which aspect of content analysis?

accuracy

Mr. Synder is a 40-year-old construction worker who is new to the dental practice. In your initial assessment of Mr. Snyder, you note some blackened, stained, and rotting teeth, symptoms that you have heard are associated with drug abuse. You have no experience in working with such cases, and you decide that you would like to conduct some research to learn about which drugs, if any, lead to such symptoms, how the drug affects the teeth, and what kind of treatment options are available for the patient.

Which of the following best summarizes your research question?

Abuse of which drug leads to blackened, stained, and rotting teeth, and what treatment options are available for such a patient?

Which of the following describes the quantitative research approach?

Data can be counted and analyzed by descriptive or inferential statistics.

Which of the following is not considered an accurate database for locating biomedical information?

wikipedia

Which of the following is true of search engines?

PubMed provides access to scholarly articles in biomedical journals.

Which of the following is true regarding the need for evidence-based practice?

The rate of published research increases yearly.

Mr. Synder is a 40-year-old construction worker who is new to the dental practice. In your initial assessment of Mr. Snyder, you note some blackened, stained, and rotting teeth, symptoms that you have heard are associated with drug abuse. You have no experience in working with such cases, and you decide that you would like to conduct some research to learn about which drugs, if any, lead to such symptoms, how the drug affects the teeth, and what kind of treatment options are available for the patient.

Which of the following should be the patient population that you target in your research?

Drug abusers presenting with blackened, stained, or rotting teeth

Which one of the following online resources is NOT considered valid and reliable?

Dental hygiene comments on blogs

Mr. Synder is a 40-year-old construction worker who is new to the dental practice. In your initial assessment of Mr. Snyder, you note some blackened, stained, and rotting teeth, symptoms that you have heard are associated with drug abuse. You have no experience in working with such cases, and you decide that you would like to conduct some research to learn about which drugs, if any, lead to such symptoms, how the drug affects the teeth, and what kind of treatment options are available for the patient.

Which resource would be the best for finding authoritative information on this case?

A dental journal

Which type of publication is good as a background resource but becomes outdated quickly?

textbook

Which type of research looks at the relationship between two or more variables?

Correlational

You are interested in researching the effects of pregnancy on dental hygiene. Which component of a good, researchable question does the issue of pregnancy relate to?

patient problem or population

Validity is the ability to measure what was

intended