Final year dental students in New Zealand: Self-reported confidence levels prior to BDS graduation.

Abstract

Background and objectives: It is expected that the graduating dental student will have acquired the skills and knowledge to confidently treat most circumstances that they may encounter in private practice. The aims of this study were to evaluate final year dental students' self-reported levels of confidence in expected core skills just prior to graduation and to explore their career intentions both directly after graduating as well as in the longer term.

Methods: After ethical approval was obtained, a survey and participant information sheet was distributed to all final year undergraduate dental students in 2014. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 22.0 with the alpha value set at 0.05.

Results: The response rate was 69% (58/84). Most (44.8%) were going to be working in New Zealand private practices with 34.5% definitely considering specializing. The majority reported high self-confidence levels for sealant restorations (96.6%) and radiography (94.8%), while very few were confident in carrying out soft tissue biopsies (1 .8%) or restoring dental implants and treating medical emergencies (10.5%). Some gender differences were found.

Conclusions: The general finding was that most NZ graduates perceived themselves to be confident in managing the most fundamental aspects of general practice. Similar to their counterparts around the world, they will benefit from further mentoring and additional exposure to the more complex clinical tasks such as the restoration of implants and soft tissue biopsies.