From leadership research to district action: Establishing a postgraduate programme in orthodontics in the Caribbean: governance, collaborations and challenges, at the University of the West Indies

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Abstract Objective To describe the development and implementation of the first postgraduate orthodontic training programme in the English-speaking Caribbean and situate its establishment within international outlines for postgraduate dental education and global health workforce development. Methods A descriptive analysis was undertaken of the governance processes, curriculum development and institutional collaborations involved in establishing a postgraduate orthodontic programme at The University of the West Indies (UWI). Programme development incorporated regional workforce needs assessment, stakeholder consultation and benchmarking against internationally recognised competency frameworks, including those of the UK Specialist Advisory Committee and European postgraduate orthodontic education guidelines. Results The programme was developed through a multi-stage governance pathway within UWI and in collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. A competency-based curriculum was constructed through structured mapping of programme learning outcomes to international orthodontic training standards. The three-year full-time programme integrates supervised clinical training, theoretical instruction and a research dissertation. Clinical training comprises approximately 24–28 hours weekly with structured workplace-based assessments and competency-based progression. Hybrid teaching models and international faculty support were introduced to address regional staffing limitations. Conclusions The establishment of this programme represents a significant milestone in specialist dental education in the Caribbean. By combining international educational standards with regional contextual adaptation, the initiative provides a model for developing sustainable specialist training programmes in small-island and resource-constrained settings. Subject terms: Dental post graduate education, Orthodontics

Study methods

The lectures and seminars topics are adapted from the SAC document on generic knowledge, skills and attitudes and orthodontic specialist specific knowledge, skills and attitudes [16] and are distributed longitudinally across the three years and include but not limited to

Limitations

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A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Select one recurring district decision. Publish the decision owner, evidence requirements, consultation process and appeal route; test the process on a bounded low-risk decision. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Track decision time, unresolved objections, documented reasons, appeals and access differences. Review whether the process changes who can participate and who carries the burden. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Trudee Hoyte. Establishing a postgraduate programme in orthodontics in the Caribbean: governance, collaborations and challenges, at the University of the West Indies. BDJ Open (2026-04-03). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41405-026-00424-1

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.