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Background: Assessment drives learning is a well-known adage. If the assessment is subjective, it can under/overestimate the student's performance and thus impair the learning process. Rubrics help standardize the assessment by giving guidelines to both the assessor and the student and minimize subjectivity. Methodology: A mixed method design was employed to identify the inter- and intra-rater reliability of assessing narrative reports and explore the faculty perceptions on using rubrics for the assessment of narrative reports. Results: The inter-rater reliability scores were 0.08 without the use of rubrics and 0.93 with the use of rubrics demonstrating a statistically significant-excellent reliability when rubrics were used. The intra- and inter-examiner mean total assessment scores showed a statistically significant variation when rubrics were not used while the variation was reduced with the use of rubric. The two examiners who were part of the study welcomed the use of rubrics for assessment. They concurred that rubrics gave the assessor the schema and minimized the subjectivity of the assessment. Although the time taken for assessment was initially longer with a rubric scale, subsequently, the time taken was reduced. The assessors felt that they were now in a position to give richer constructive feedback to students. They felt that the students should also know the rubric scale beforehand so that it sets the expectations and helps the student to set self-determined learning goals. Conclusion: The use of rubrics improves inter- and intra-rater reliability of assessment scores. It gives a direction to the examiners and helps categorizing the student performance with minimal subjectivity.

Background: Assessment drives learning is a well-known adage. If the assessment is subjective, it can under/overestimate the student's performance and thus impair the learning process. Rubrics help standardize the assessment by giving guidelines to both the assessor and the student and minimize subjectivity. Methodology: A mixed method design was employed to identify the inter- and intra-rater reliability of assessing narrative reports and explore the faculty perceptions on using rubrics for the assessment of narrative reports. Results: The inter-rater reliability scores were 0.08 without the use of rubrics and 0.93 with the use of rubrics demonstrating a statistically significant-excellent reliability when rubrics were used. The intra- and inter-examiner mean total assessment scores showed a statistically significant variation when rubrics were not used while the variation was reduced with the use of rubric. The two examiners who were part of the study welcomed the use of rubrics for assessment. They concurred that rubrics gave the assessor the schema and minimized the subjectivity of the assessment. Although the time taken for assessment was initially longer with a rubric scale, subsequently, the time taken was reduced. The assessors felt that they were now in a position to give richer constructive feedback to students. They felt that the students should also know the rubric scale beforehand so that it sets the expectations and helps the student to set self-determined learning goals. Conclusion: The use of rubrics improves inter- and intra-rater reliability of assessment scores. It gives a direction to the examiners and helps categorizing the student performance with minimal subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To measure agreement between dental therapists and the Scottish gold-standard dentist undertaking National Dental Inspection Programme ( NDIP) examinations. Methods A study of interexaminer agreement between 19 dental therapists and the national gold-standard dentist was carried out. Pre-calibration training used the caries diagnostic criteria and examination techniques agreed by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry ( BASCD). Twenty-three 5-year-old children (Primary 1) and 17 11-year-old children (Primary 7) children were examined. Agreement was assessed using kappa statistics on d3mft and D3 MFT for P1 and P7 children, sensitivity and specificity values, and kappa statistics on d3t/D3T and ft/ FT. Calibration data on P1 and P7 children from 2009-2012 involving dentists as examiners were used for comparison. Economic evaluation was undertaken using a cost minimization analysis approach. Results The mean kappa score was 0.84 ( SD 0.07) ranging from 0.69 to 0.94. All dental therapists scored good or very good agreement with the gold-standard dentist. This compares with historic NDIP calibration data with dentists, against the same gold-standard dentist, where the mean kappa value was 0.68 ( SD 0.22) with a range of 0.35-1.00. The mean sensitivity score was 0.98 ( SD 0.04) (range 0.88-1.0) and mean specificity score was 0.90 ( SD 0.06) (range 0.78-0.96). Health economic analysis estimated that salary costs would be 33.6% lower if dental therapists were substituted for dentists in the year 2013, with an estimated saving of approximately £103 646 per annum on the national budget. Conclusion We conclude that dental therapists show a high level of interexaminer agreement, and with the appropriate annual training and calibration, they could undertake dental examinations as part of the NDIP programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objectives: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) formulated a Task Force on dental fluorosis and recommended the subgroup to develop a simplified index for identification and grading of dental fluorosis to be used by the health workers. This study was conducted to pre-test the 'ICMR Index for Dental Fluorosis' in the field to check its reliability and reproducibility. Methods: A total of 600 photographs were taken, 150 in each grade of fluorosis by screening 14-17 yr school children from eight schools of Hisar (Haryana) and South west Delhi. Eighty photographs were finalized (20 in each grade) before calibration to be used for training of field workers. Calibration exercise was conducted involving the five member survey team on 100 diagnosed cases of dental fluorosis. The members again screened 74 children with dental fluorosis in the field to categorize in to different grades of fluorosis for assessment of inter-examiner reliability. Results: The ICMR criteria showed more difference in agreement in very mild and mild categories during calibration. The inter-examiner reliability (κ) ranged from 0.59-1. The criteria was further modified and inter-examiner reliability (κ) found to be 0.83-0.98 which was almost perfect agreement. Interpretation & conclusions: The tool developed by the ICMR to assess dental fluorosis can be used in a field set up by non-dental personnel reliably with high degree of reproducibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpreting patients' responses to any neurodynamic test requires knowledge of test reliability and of the sensations provoked in asymptomatic subjects. The purpose of our study was to determine examiner reliability for using a standard goniometer to measure shoulder abduction at end-range of a modified brachial plexus tension test commonly known as upper limb neurodynamic test - median nerve bias (U T2 - median nerve bias). Our test-retest design on 21 asymptomatic subjects revealed "good" to "excellent" intra-tester reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC 3,k) of 0.88 and 0.94 for the two examiners. Corresponding standard errors of measurement (SEM) were 2.41 and 2.08 degrees. Inter-tester reliability Was "poor"(ICC 2,k = 0.33, SEM = 6.35). Sensory responses provoked in the end position of this neurodynamic test were most commonly located In the lateral hand, lateral forearm, and cubital fossa, areas consistent with the cutaneous distribution of the C6 and C7 dermatomes and median nerve. Pulling was the most common description of sensations experience in the cubital fossa and forearm, while combinations of pulling, burning, or tingling were more often reported in the hand. Contralateral cervical sidebending increased upper-limb sensory responses in all subjects. These sensory responses are consistent with previous reports on ULN2 - median nerve bias and the original brachial plexus tension test. Further studies are necessary to determine whether our results can assist hi establishing the clinical validity and diagnostic performance of this neurodynamic test in symptomatic populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the article "Dental therapists can probably assess decayed, missing, and filled teeth with high accuracy in 5-year-old children" by O'Keefe EJ, McMahon AD, Jones CM, Curnow MM, Macpherson LM. which appeared in the periodical "JADA"on August 2017,is presented.