title: Factors associated with the satisfaction of millennial generation dental residents.
abstract: Data from the 2010 Learners' Perceptions Survey (LPS) administered through the Office of Academic Affiliations, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were analyzed to identify factors associated with dental residents' satisfaction with the VA as a clinical training environment. Satisfaction scores were linked to clinic workloads, dental procedure complexity levels, staffing patterns, and facility infrastructure data to explore conditions that may improve residents' satisfaction. Findings supported the construct validity of the LPS survey data and underscored the importance of maintaining optimal ratios of attending dentists, dental assistants, and administrative staff to residents so that each trainee will have opportunities to perform an adequate level of dental workload. As programs strive to improve the quality of graduate dental education, findings from this study are vital for setting curriculum design guidelines and for providing infrastructure support for dental resident education.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Room 540E, 1717 H Street, NE, Washington, DC 20006, USA. hwai-tai.lam@va.gov
authors.forename: Hwai-Tai C
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Terry G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: O'Toole
authors.forename: Patricia E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Arola
authors.forename: T Michael
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kashner
authors.forename: Barbara K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D003726:Dental Assistants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003729:Dental Care / Q000145:classification; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D003798:Dental Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology*; D004499:Education, Dental, Graduate; D004526:Efficiency; D005179:Faculty, Dental; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007858:Learning; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011231:Preceptorship; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013039:Specialties, Dental / Q000193:education; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D016526:Workload; D017132:Workplace