Lauren Stow

Dr Lauren Stow

Lecturer

Adelaide Dental School

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

I spent 10 years in full-time private general dental practice; I now coordinate and teach in both the third year and lateral entry (medical and IMU dental) undergraduate programmes of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery course at Adelaide Dental School.
I recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Forensic Odontology (2014) and Master of Philosophy Dentistry (2017); I contributes to odontology casework within the Forensic Odontology Unit of South Australia and am active in general dental research in the Adelaide Dental School. In particular, this currently includes research related to stress as a barrier to optimal clinical performance in third year dental students.

Current project:

Title: ‘Evaluation of new OSCE and DOPS summative assessments in the early years of the BDS Program’   

Description of broader project: This project will evaluate the implementation of a range of new authentic summative assessments in the early years of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program at the Adelaide Dental School (ADS) - Objective Structred Clinical Examination and Direct Observation of Procedural Skills. Introduction of objective, clinically structured in-person summative assessments, where application of knowledge is tested in a safe, simulated-patient environment, is seen as an additional appropriate measure of determining the readiness of students to commence patient care in addition to maintaining academic integrity.

Research Questions: 

  1. How do students perform in each of the new standardised authentic assessment tasks? 

  2. How does performance in the new standardised authentic assessment tasks compare and contrast with other current summative assessment tasks (ie, written Progressive Integrated tests and tutor assessment of clinic and sim clinic performance)? 

  3. What are the perceptions of students, assessors, simulated patients and ‘runners’ in each of the new standardised authentic assessment tasks?

 

 

Available projects:

PROJECT 1 (ON HOLD AS AT JAN 2025)

Title: Stress as a Barrier to Optimal Clinical Performance in Third-Year Dental Students

Description of broader project: This study will identify and assist “at-risk” dental students who develop high anxiety/stress during their early exposure to clinical practice. These conditions can seriously impact academic and clinical performance, as well as a student’s duty of care to patients.

The study will utilise existing and additional stress management interventions both before and after clinic activities, as a way to promote effective completion of the dental training program.

This will involve measuring self-reported stress (indexed by a questionnaire) and physiological stress response (indexed by heart rate, heart rate variability and electrocardiogram, or ECG) as a baseline for each individual and then in real-life clinical situations experienced by third year undergraduate dental students in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program at the University of Adelaide.

An intervention will also be trialled to reduce anxiety, improve wellbeing and better equip students during their careers as dental practitioners.

Specific aims:

1)    Use student focus groups and surveys to gain perceptions of anxiety during the early weeks of clinical practice in BDS3.

2)    Identify high and low anxiety students and compare stress levels during clinic exposure.

3)   Develop and trial an intervention for students to reduce anxiety and improve clinic performance.

Description of specific student role: Student involvement would be part of a broader research project involving staff from dentistry, health and medical sciences, and psychology. The overarching aim of the research is to better equip current dental students with skills to manage both short- and long-term clinical stress during their training and career as dental practitioners. This project will use self-report and physiological data related to stress. While a dental student is welcome to be involved in multiple facets of the project, for a thesis it is anticipated that a student would use both qualitative research methods (surveys) to gain information about dental students’ perceptions of stressors in clinical practice and their current stress management strategies, as well as quantitative analysis of de-identified physiological data.

Project Available for: Honours, Masters, PhD

Commencing: Semester 1 2020

Special Requirements: Nil

 

 

 

 

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2014 - ongoing Forensic Odontologist Forensic Odontology Unit of South Australia
    2011 - ongoing Lecturer Adelaide Dental School

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    Adelaide Dental School Australia BDS (2000)
    Adelaide Dental School Australia GDipForOdont (2014)
    Adelaide Dental School Australia MPhil (Dentistry)

  • Research Interests
    Oral Health

I am a full-time lecturer and BDS3 Year Coordinator at the Adelaide Dental School, The University of Adelaide.

My expertise in teaching and related duties is within the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program, which is a 5-year full-time undergraduate program.  I am heavily involved in clinical and simulation clinical teaching in junior years (1, 2, 3). 

I am the school leader in development of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations/Direct Observation of Procedural Skills assessment and otherwise involved in other assessment roles eg, exam setting, marking and moderation; ensuring cohesion of exam approaches and clinical assessment approaches across the BDS program.

I am a member of the Adelaide Education Academy.

Learning and Teaching Awards

Executive Dean’s Learning and Teaching Development Award 2013

  • Position: Lecturer
  • Phone: 83131294
  • Email: lauren.stow@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences, floor 10
  • Org Unit: Dental
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External Profiles