DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2015.v02i05.005

Pages: 330-335

Abstract: Patient Management Problem (PMP) is an assessment tool for students of medical sciences, which assess the students’ comprehension of different aspects of health and disease. The current study was aimed at comparing the dental students’ ability to answer Patient Management Problem (PMP) and Modified Essay Question (MEQ) examination with Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) tests, and its relation with educational progress. This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 62 dental students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran, who were selected by census. The first test was PMP-MEQ consisting of 2 Multiple-Choice Questions with 5 possible answers and 3 essay type questions. Two weeks later, the second stage was performed in form of an MCQ test consisting of 10 questions with 4 possible options. The student’s total grade-point average (GPA) in 5 consecutive semesters, GPA of the last semester, and the score obtained in theoretical pediatric dentistry 3 course were considered as indices of educational progress and were compared with the scores achieved in the tests. Data were analyzed by using descriptive and analytical statistics. There was a statistical significant correlation between the student’s educational progress and the score of MCQ test (P < 0.001). Meanwhile, there were no statistical significant relationship between the educational progress and the scores of PMP-MCQ test. Therefore, the result indicates that despite high grade-point average (GPA) and good practical information, the students were weak at reasoning and clinical judgments. It was also detected that the students’ ability to respond PMP-MEQ tests were lower than their ability in MCQ test.