Study of the impacts of patient-educators on the course of basic sciences in dental studies E. Renard 1 , B. Alliot-Licht 1,2 , O. Gross 3 , V. Roger-Leroi 4 and C. Marchand 5 1 INSERM UMRS 1064 Centre de recherche en Transplantation et en Immunologie, Nantes, France, 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Odontology, University of Nantes, Nantes, France, 3 Association Franc ßaise Des Dysplasies Ectodermiques (AFDE), Paris, France, 4 Service Odontologie, CHRU Clermont-Ferrand, University Auvergne Clermont1 EA 3847 School of Dentistry, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 5 Health Education Laboratory, Paris 13 University Sorbonne Paris City, Bobigny, France Keywords patient-educator; education; dentistry. Correspondence Brigitte Alliot-Licht Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Odontology INSERM UMRS 1064 Centre de recherche en, Transplantation et en Immunologie University of Nantes Nantes France Tel: 00 (33) (0)2 40 41 29 26 Fax: 00 (33) (0)2 40 20 18 67 e-mail: brigitte.alliot-licht@univ-nantes.fr Accepted: 26 January 2014 doi: 10.1111/eje.12098 Abstract Ever since 2006, Nantes University dental educators have started organising lectures led by the mother of a young patient suffering from ectodermic dysplasia (patient-edu- cator) to help second-year students to better understand how important it is for their future dental work to better understand basic sciences. In this study, we have analysed this training experience on students’ motivation. For this purpose, students were asked to complete questionnaires 10 days after the patient-educator’s lecture (early assess- ment; n = 193) and 4 years later, during the last year of their dental studies (delayed assessment; n = 47). Moreover, 3 years after the first lecture, we analysed the ability of students to diagnose a mother carrying the ectodermic dysplasia genetic disorder, using a case-based learning exercise with a patient showing dental features similar to those exposed by the patient-educator (measure of knowledge; n = 42). Ten days after the lecture, the early assessment shows that all the students were interested in the lecture and 59% of the students declared being motivated to find out more about genetics whilst 54% declared the same thing about embryology courses. Moreover, 4 years later, 67% of the students remembered the patient-educator’s lecture a little or very well. Three years after the course, 83% of the students diagnosed ectodermal dysplasia whilst studying the case-based example that listed typical dental phenotypes. In conclusion, this study shows that this original educational approach enhances dental students’ motivation in learning basic sciences and that patient-educators could offer many benefits for students and patients. Introduction Dental studies in France involve six academic years that lead to a Doctor’s Degree in Dental Surgery. Teaching basic sciences is provided by the relevant science departments throughout the first 2 years of the course. Due to the fact that the first year of studies ends with a very competitive examination, students are strongly motivated to learn these scientific subjects because only the best are allowed to pursue their dental studies (stu- dents are selected for dentistry by their ranking at the exam). A basic training in more specific medical and scientific knowledge for their future dental practice is taught to second year stu- dents. Unfortunately, these students are often not interested in basic sciences such as dental embryology or genetics. Because case-based learning is not part of the basic science lectures, stu- dents often do not understand the benefits of learning these fundamental sciences for their future patients. In the education of medical students, there is increasing evi- dence of an effective role of patients in the training of students or patients with chronic diseases (1–3). They are called patient- partners, expert patients, patient trainers or patient-educators. Patient-educators who provide expertise during medical train- ing are different from patients in self-management programmes that enable the patients to get educated about their condition or learn relevant information about their chronic diseases (1, 4). For students, being in contact with patients-educators plays a role in the development of clinical reasoning, communi- cation skills, professional attitudes, empathic understanding and an individualised approach to the patient (5, 6). It also motivates students by promoting relevance and providing context (6, 7) even though, most reviews on the subject have highlighted the many remaining gaps in knowledge about patient roles in medical education and the need for further research in this field (2, 3, 6, 8, 9). For this reason, and to ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd 31 Eur J Dent Educ 19 (2015) 31–37 European Journal of Dental Education ISSN 1396-5883