Abstract Currently, clinical practice is required to participate in clinical practice, and practice before clinical practice is essential. At Matsumoto Dental University, medical interview exercises are held as clinical preparatory exercises in the latter half of the fourth year.

 There are many international students from Greater China at our university, and it has been desired to strengthen the minimum medical communication skills at clinical practice.

 This time, we compared the skills of international students with those of Japanese students in the medical communication exercises conducted at our university before clinical training during the exercises for 184 international students during the 5 years from 2008 to 2012 first period and 2013 to 2017 second period.

 As a result, the international students could not listen to all the questions in the early stage of the exercise, but their skills improved with practice. Furthermore, in the second term, the international students achieved the same results as the Japanese students.

 It was shown the number of listening memo items increased. On the other hand, there were some international students who were unable to obtain, summarize the contents of the interview and assess empathetic attitudes.

 We concluded that the medical interview skills international students improved through these exercises.

 Abstract Visual thinking strategy (VTS) is a method of art appreciation in which viewers converse with each other, and its positive effects on education have been adopted in medical training overseas. We have developed an original dental education program that incorporates VTS and applied it to second-grade students before taking courses in basic and clinical dentistry. This study aimed to verify the educational effects of our novel VTS-assisted program on the training of dental students and to identify practical issues.

 The program consists of three units. In Unit 1 (Day 1) and Unit 2 (Day 2), students were divided into two groups alternately, one for VTS and the other for peer assessment. In Unit 3 (Day 3), all students participated in VTS at once, and then they were asked to consider how VTS would be useful for a dentist in the future by assigning them a report task.

 We found that the students who participated in this program were able to proactively acquire the skills of observation, thinking, and communication, all necessary for dental professionals when building the confidence of patients and team-based medical care. In addition, the incorporation of peer assessment not only enabled the participation of all members of the class, but also contributed to improving their observation and listening skills. The students started to find that the ability to freely imagine stories from viewing paintings is necessary to think about the patient’s background and to empathize with patients from non-verbal cues. However, the students in lower grades seemed unable to distinguish between EBM and NBM, and therefore this aspect should be improved in future VTS-assisted programs.

 Abstract The reasons and background characteristics of students who consulted the infirmary of Osaka Dental University, Faculty of Dental Health in 2021, including 13 foreign exchange students and 78 Japanese students, were examined statistically. The male ratio of foreign exchange students was significantly higher than that of Japanese students for both the consulting group and the enrolling group, while age and BMI of both ethnic groups were not significantly different for either group. The prevalence of reasons for consulting among Japanese students was higher in order of mental disorder, orthostatic hypotension, dehydration and infectious disease, while that for foreign exchange students was infectious disease and trauma. As for the background characteristics, the prevalence of trauma was higher among Japanese males, while that of orthostatic hypotension was higher among Japanese females. On the other hand, the prevalence of trauma and infectious disease, which were frequent among foreign exchange students, did not show a significant difference between foreign males and females. The male/female ratio, prevalence of mental disorder and infectious disease were independently and significantly different between the two ethnic groups. That is to say, the prevalence of infectious disease among foreign exchange students was higher than that among Japanese students, and the prevalence of mental disorder among Japanese students was higher than that among foreign exchange students. The results are considered to be due to the lack of knowledge about infectious disease and hesitation to consult about mental disorders among foreign students. Both factors should be improved in the future.

 Abstract As stated in the attainment objectives of clinical training for dentists set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, trainee dentists are required to provide holistic medical care that focuses not only on the oral cavity but also on the entire body. The Oral Management Center of Nagasaki University Hospital has been conducting a program in which trainee dentists at the Center measure the blood pressure of patients they treat at each visit. Therefore, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 24 trainee dentists who underwent one year of clinical training at Nagasaki University Hospital under the clinical training program for dentists in FY2022 to examine the effect of blood pressure measurement at each visit on the trainee dentists.

 As a result, more than 90% of trainee dentists felt that blood pressure measurement at each visit was necessary and useful in their practice. The results also revealed that blood pressure measurement deepened their understanding of hypertension and made them more aware of their blood pressure, general condition, and medical history on the day of examination. Furthermore, while only 40% of the trainee dentists understood the importance of cooperation between medicine and dentistry when they were undergraduates, more than 90% of the trainee dentists felt the need for cooperation with medicine through blood pressure measurement at each visit, indicating a change in awareness of medical and dental cooperation.

 The results of this survey suggest that blood pressure measurement at each visit has brought about a positive change in trainee dentists’ awareness of the need for cooperation between medicine and dentistry.

 Abstract The arts and the humanities play a unique role in medical education, and for this reason, there is a growing movement to integrate the arts and humanities into health profession education. Unfortunately, there are few reports on the application of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) in dental education. Therefore, this pilot study was undertaken to explore the potential of VTS for implementation. Five clinical students and two residents participated. Three VTS sessions were conducted with facilitation by faculty staff. During the pre- and post-tests, the participants were instructed to list the findings of intraoral photographs and intraoral radiographs. At the end of the session, a questionnaire including free-text entries was administered. The post-test showed a slight increase in descriptions. In the questionnaire, the participants felt that VTS helped improve their observation skills, analytical thinking to understand others’ opinions, acceptance of diversity, etc. Since VTS does not require correct answers, it is easy to share feelings and perspectives, and is considered to have the potential to foster empathy in dental education. However, it is difficult to facilitate VTS using only a standard format. VTS is expected to be an effective tool in dental education, but it is also essential to develop facilitators for its implementation.

 Abstract In recent years, interactive appreciation using visual art―Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) ―has been attracting attention as a means of developing learners’ clinical skills. In order to apply VTS at our university, a workshop was held with the aim of training facilitators. This report provides an overview of the workshop.

 The workshop participants were 20 faculty members affiliated with the Nippon Dental University School of Life Dentistry at Tokyo and the Nippon Dental University Hospital. The workshop included a brief explanation of VTS, small-group VTS facilitator experience, and reflections. At the end of the workshop, a questionnaire was administered, and a quantitative text analysis was conducted on the freely written content.

 The results of the questionnaire showed that “observation skills,” “understanding others’ opinions,” “critical thinking” and “accepting diversity” were the most frequently selected items where VTS might contribute to students’ learning. Three sub-graphs were extracted as a result of the quantitative text analysis : “Expectations for VTS,” “Diversity of Perspectives,” and “Understanding and Concerns for Facilitating.”

 As a result of this workshop, many participants were aware of the educational effects of VTS in developing professionalism, although many of them were still concerned about the facilitation of VTS. In order to implement VTS in dental education in the future, it is necessary to improve the workshop content and continue training VTS facilitators.