Capacity of non-tertiary Kenyan health facilities selected for decentralised dental training

Abstract

Objective: To determine the capacity of six non-tertiary Kenyan hospitals enrolled as sites for decentralised dental education.

Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Setting: The Dental departments of six non-tertiary Kenyan health facilities.

Main outcome measures: Capacity of the hospitals to be used as sites for decentralised dental education.

Results: Five out of the six facilities had capacity for final year undergraduate students to gain learning experiences in more than 60% of the clinical disciplines studied. All the selected facilities had challenges of lack of specialists, broken down dental equipment and inadequate materials.

Conclusion: Although the six hospitals faced various challenges in maintenance of equipment, availability of dental materials and specialist staff, five out of the six facilities had the capacity for dental student learning in more than 60% of the clinical disciplines studied.