title: Western Australian dental graduates' perception of preparedness to practice: a five-year follow-up.
abstract: The School of Dentistry in Western Australia developed a pregraduation intern year in which final-year students, having completed their didactic education, undertook a focused clinical experiential program (CEP) over an extended year. This program was implemented for the first time in 2002. The aim of this study was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum as perceived by graduates and to compare the perceptions of those graduates who did the CEP to those who did not. A survey with questions based on the graduate outcomes of the dental school was mailed to all graduates from 2000, 2001 (did not complete CEP), and 2004 (completed CEP). The response rate was 66 percent (n=57) and included twenty-nine respondents who graduated before implementation of the CEP and twenty-eight who completed the CEP. Most respondents (80 percent) were in the twenty to twenty-nine age group, and there were slightly more males (53 percent). Learning outcome items with the highest mean scores were practicing universal precautions (4.2), behaving ethically (4.2), and demonstrating a satisfactory level of core dental knowledge (4.2). Practical skills outcomes with the highest scores were amalgam restorations (4.3), anterior endodontics (4.3), and single crowns (3.9). When comparing the respondents who did CEP (51 percent) with those who did not (49 percent), there were few significant differences. The general findings from this survey were that most graduates, whether completing the CEP or not, perceived themselves to be prepared, competent, and confident to practice as dentists and were most confident in managing problems that they most frequently encountered during training.
authors.affiliation: Education Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arena
authors.forename: Estie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kruger
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holley
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Millar
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tennant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003442:Crowns; D003479:Curriculum; D003723:Dental Amalgam; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology*; D004497:Education, Dental; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011364:Professional Practice; D012390:Root Canal Therapy; D012649:Self Concept; D016635:Universal Precautions; D014904:Western Australia
chemical_list: D003723:Dental Amalgam