Document Detail


First-year oral health and dentistry student perceptions of future professional work.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  22251341     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Data-Review    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Objectives:  To explore and compare how pre-doctoral dentistry (BDS) and oral health (BOH) students characterise their future professional work at the start and end of their first-year professional programme. Materials and methods:  All BDS and BOH students were given an anonymous survey on the first and last days of their 2009 course. Start and end surveys (ES) were completed by 75% of BDS (51) and 83% of BOH students (33). This paper examines students' responses to two questions asking them to identify a situation characterising their future professional work and a professional difficulty they would likely encounter. Student responses were analysed inductively to identify key themes and confirm each theme's 'weighting' based on frequency of mention. Results:  Students' answers to both questions revealed eight characterisations of future professional work involving the following: restorative tasks, patient-related concerns, patient emotion and behaviour, population-level/public health concerns, disease prevention and monitoring, communication, teamwork and self-management. In ES responses, BDS students emphasised restorative tasks as central to a dentist's work, and in both surveys perceived 'dealing with patients' as a central difficulty. In contrast, BOH students' answers to both questions revealed a patient care emphasis, and in both surveys, BOH students emphasised patient-related concerns as a likely difficulty. Conclusion:  Bachelor of Dentistry students characterised their work as primarily interventive, and BOH students, as primarily patient-centred, communicative, and preventive. Whilst BDS students apparently valued restorative capabilities, BOH students valued the ability to ensure patient well-being. Further research will examine students' differing perceptions and how these change over time.
Authors:
V Anderson; M Kang; L Foster Page
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2011-05-23
Journal Detail:
Title:  European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe     Volume:  16     ISSN:  1600-0579     ISO Abbreviation:  Eur J Dent Educ     Publication Date:  2012 Feb 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2012-01-18     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9712132     Medline TA:  Eur J Dent Educ     Country:  Denmark    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  e166-73     Citation Subset:  D    
Copyright Information:
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Affiliation:
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
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