A Feedback Study Among Students and Faculty About CliniTrack: A Novel Clinical Audit System for Continuous Monitoring and Improvement of Clinical Training

Background and objectiveClinical audit systems have become integral to competency-based dental education by enabling structured monitoring of clinical performance, documentation quality, and educational outcomes.CliniTrack is a digital clinical audit system designed to objectively monitor postgraduate (PG) clinical activities using Hospital Information Management System (HIMS)-generated data.This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of PG students and faculty members regarding the usability, educational impact, and clinical integration of CliniTrack. Materials and methodsA descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted using a self-constructed questionnaire with 22 questions, among 114 participants, comprising 79 PG students and 35 faculty members, at the School of Dental Sciences, KVV Deemed University (KVVDU), Karad.Participants with prior exposure to CliniTrack completed a structured questionnaire assessing three domains: usability, educational impact, and clinical integration using a 5-point Likert scale.Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the responses, which are presented as frequencies and percentages. ResultsFaculty members demonstrated consistently higher levels of agreement than PG students across all evaluated domains.Educational impact received the highest level of acceptance, with 88.6% (n = 31/35) of faculty members and 65.8% (n = 52/79) of PG students agreeing that case discussions improved diagnosis and treatment planning.Monitoring of clinical work (97.1% (n = 34/35)), multidimensional faculty assessment (91.4% (n = 32/35)), and feedback relevance (88.6% (n = 31/35)) were highly appreciated by faculty members.Among PG students, improved documentation quality (65.8% (n = 52/79)), case discussions (65.8% (n = 52/79)), and assessment by multiple faculty members (59.5% (n = 47/79)) received the greatest support.The lowest level of agreement among PG students was observed for the statement that the time invested in CliniTrack was justified (29.1% (n = 23/79)), indicating concerns regarding workflow efficiency despite recognition of the system's educational benefits. ConclusionsCliniTrack was perceived as an effective digital clinical audit system that enhances case-based learning, clinical documentation, performance monitoring, and objective assessment in PG dental education.While faculty members demonstrated strong acceptance across all evaluated domains, PG students identified opportunities to improve usability by reducing the time burden associated with the audit process.Optimizing workflow may further strengthen the integration and acceptability of digital clinical audit systems in competency-based dental training.