Problem-oriented non-formal education of dentists and orthopedists in Europe

Abstract

Summary: Non-formal education has become especially popular in various spheres of human activity in recent years, which is a consequence of the active transformation of society. Over the past five years, there has been a significant proliferation of virtual educational platforms for webinars and online conferences with various information broadcasting capabilities. The European Association of Orthopedic Dentists has a significant impact on the formation of undergraduate and postgraduate training programs for orthopedist dentists, monitors research programs and promotes scientific information and technologies in the medical environment. To conduct an analytical review of the topics of the webinars of the European association, as a reliable indicator of current trends in professional informal education for the period 2019-2023. The indicators of the number of webinars held by the association over the past five years were studied. In 2019, 10 of them were held, then in the conditions of the pandemic in 2020 - 17, in 2021 - 20, in 2022 -14 and in 2023 -13. The ratio of thematic modules in the webinars held by the European Association of Orthopedic Dentists during the observation period was analyzed. The module of fixed prosthetics accounted for 18% of the total volume of webinars over five years, the module of removable prosthetics -8%, prosthetics on implants - 36%, digital protocols of diagnosis and treatment - 19%, general section - 12%, material science - 4%, infectious control - 3%. The positive dynamics of thematic webinars in the modules of prosthetics on implants and digital protocols of diagnostics and treatment during five years were revealed. It was determined that most of the relevant issues were considered by representatives of leading research laboratories of leading universities in the USA, Switzerland, Israel, and England. The community of orthopedists and dentists of Greece are the initiators and active distributors of webinars as a component of informal professional education. It was established that the experience of conducting webinars requires further study, and individual components (thematic modules, topical issues of thematic modules) can be used as the basis for the formation of a similar educational platform in the territory of Ukraine.