e-Den, a national e-learning initiative encompassing dentistry's foundation years, was officially launched on 15 October 2009 at a special event at The Royal College of Pathologists, London. The new e-learning programme has been launched in a major collaboration between the four dental faculties of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh and Glasgow and the Department of Health, England (DH).
The e-Den project is one of several programmes in different specialties that are being developed as part of the DH's 'e-Learning for healthcare' (e-LfH) initiative. The curriculum for e-Den has been written by subject specialists and around 500 e-learning sessions will cover four domains, clinical, management and leadership, professionalism and communication.
The launch of e-Den in London saw over 80 representatives from various dentistry bodies across the country as well as tutors and Deans from each of the four faculties gather together while attendees were given the opportunity to view some of the sample e-Den sessions.
The project will be available nationwide and free of charge to all NHS trainees and all relevant staff with an NHS contract in early 2010 as a tool for dental foundation training schemes to use as part of supporting postgraduate training for dentistry. It will also be used for re-certification and continuing professional development (CPD) schemes for experienced practitioners.
Paul Brunton, Kathy Harley, Sue Gregory and Chris Franklin
Speaking at the launch, e-Den Clinical Lead Paul Brunton said, 'This initiative does not replace face to face teaching but provides the underpinning knowledge to support the development of competencies and can be used for the entire dental team for CPD. It is targeting a digital generation who are learning in a different way, such as through interactive pod casts and webcasts.'
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