Self-Perceived Preparedness to Work Independently Among Graduating Dental Students in Saudi Arabia: Traditional Versus Integrated Curriculum

Vundavalli, Sudhakar

doi:10.1590/pboci.2020.066

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Pesqui. Bras. Odontopediatria Clín. Integr. 20 • 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/pboci.2020.066 copy

Self-Perceived Preparedness to Work Independently Among Graduating Dental Students in Saudi Arabia: Traditional Versus Integrated Curriculum

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Objective:

To investigate the perceived preparedness of graduating dental students to work independently and to compare these perceptions between Traditional and Integrated curriculums of dentistry in Saudi Arabia.

Material and Methods:

A pretested self-administered questionnaire was filled by 258 dental students from four dental institutions across the country. The questionnaire covered 10 domains consisting of sixty suitable questions. Students were asked to mark their responses at one of five levels of performance for each of the selected skills ranging from 0 (not yet learned) to 4 (can do it confidently). Mean scores for each subscale of the Questionnaire were calculated by individual items and for all comparison, p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

253 graduating students were included in the final analysis, out of which 108 belongs to the Integrated curriculum group and 145 from Traditional curriculum. Overall scores of Traditional curriculum students (176 ± 4.8) were more compared to Integrated curriculum students (161 ± 3.2), which are statistically significant. Integrated curriculum students had more self-perceived skill scores in Orthodontics, Conservative/Operative Dentistry & Endodontics, Dental Public Health and Drug & Emergency management group of clinical skills. Overall, perceived preparedness to practice dentistry for all participants is 60.5% and traditional curriculum students expressed more preparedness (68%) than Integrated curriculum (53%).

Conclusion:

Overall, preparedness to practice independently is unsatisfactory compared to other countries. The Ministry of Education (KSA) should take necessary actions to bridge the gap between training dentists and to be competent practitioners.

Keywords:
Dental Curriculum; Dental Education; Dental Graduate; Self-Assessment

Domain	Clinical Skills	No. of Items
1	General Patient Management	7
2	Practice Management	7
3	Periodontology	4
4	Conservative/Operative Dentistry & Endodontics	7
5	Oral Rehabilitation/Prosthodontics	5
6	Orthodontics	4
7	Managing Paediatric Patients and Children with Special Needs	6
8	Oral and Dento-Facial Surgery	9
9	Dental Public Health	6
10	Drug and Emergency Management	5
	Total	60

	Total Items Score	Curriculum
Clinical Skills	Total Items Score	Traditional	Integrated	p-value
		Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
General Patient Management	28	19 ± 1.2	17 ± 0.8	0.062
Practice Management	28	16 ± 0.4	14 ± 0.5	0.162
Periodontology	16	14 ± 0.3	12 ± 0.2	0.262
Conservative/Operative Dentistry	28	16 ± 1.1	22 ± 2.8	<0.001
Oral Rehabilitation/Prosthodontics	20	14 ± 0.8	11 ± 1.3	0.021
Orthodontics	16	9 ± 0.4	13 ± 1.2	<0.001
Managing Children and Patients with Special Needs	24	12 ± 1.8	16 ± 2.2	0.014
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery	36	26 ± 1.1	20 ± 1.2	0.304
Dental Public Health	24	11 ± 1.6	16 ± 1.8	0.003
Drug and Emergency Management	20	10 ± 1.5	15 ± 1.3	0.238
Overall	240	176 ± 4.8	161 ± 3.2	0.046

Competency Item	Domain	Response^* * Proportion of respondents who can do the task confidently.
Top Five
A] Record and interpret patients medical, social, and dental history	1	100.0%
B] Restore teeth with amalgam restorations	4	100.0%
C] Perform simple extractions	8	97.0%
D] Knowledge about dental ethics	9	96.6%
E] Administer local anaesthetics	10	96.3%
Bottom Five
A] Apply evidence-based dentistry	2	18.0%
B] Perform periodontal surgery for crown lengthening	3	21.2%
C] Perform multi-root canal treatment	4	24.5%
D] Perform orthodontic treatment planning	6	25.0%
E] Manage medically compromised patients	7	24.8%

Perception	Traditional Curriculum		Integrated Curriculum		Overall^* * Chi-square test.		p-value^* * Chi-square test.
	N	%	N	%	N	%
Yes	99	68.0	57	53.0	156	60.5	<0.05
No	46	32.0	51	47.0	97	39.5
Total	145	57.3	108	42.7	253	100.0

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[1] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: Sudhakar Vundavalli, Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Sakaka, Al Jouf, King of Saudi Arabia. Phone: +966 533982791. E-mail: dr.sudhakar.vundavalli@jodent.org.