The Blurred Lines of Professionalism in Dentistry (original) (raw)

Are the standards of professionalism expected in dentistry justified? Views of dental professionals and the public

British Dental Journal, 2023

Highlights the complexities surrounding whether the standards of professionalism in dentistry are justified. Highlights that high professionalism standards are expected in a profession where patient trust is paramount; however, dental professionals feel pressure to possess an unattainable infallible nature and fear increasingly high levels of litigation. Suggests that undergraduate and continuing professional development aim to foster a supportive, positive, and reflective culture of professionalism to help prevent a culture of fear contributing to defensive dentistry.

Fricker, J. P., Kiley, M., Townsend, G., & Trevitt, C. (2011). Professionalism: what is it, why should we have it and how can we achieve it? Australian Dental Journal, 56(1), 92-96. doi: 10.1111/j.1834-7819.2010.01306.x

In this paper we argue that the terms 'profession', 'professional' and 'professionalism' provide us with important insights into the practice of dentistry and the priorities for the continuing development of dentistry as a profession. More significantly, we suggest that this understanding can assist us in designing continuing professional development (CPD) programmes aimed at maintaining the professionalism of dentists throughout their working lives.

Developing Professionalism in Dentistry: A Systematic Review

MedEdPublish, 2017

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Professionalism is a core competency and concern in all health professional education. Evidence from nursing and medicine suggests the evidence base for approaches to developing and assessing professionalism at undergraduate level is weak. In 2015, notifications, imposed sanctions, and in some cases de-registration against dental practitioners for reported incidences of breaches in infection control in New South Wales, Australia, have refreshed the essential need for dental practitioners to promote public safety and protection. Aim: To investigate the evidence for clinical education practice approaches to develop professionalism in dentistry. Methods: Relevant electronic databases were searched for full-text peer reviewed papers relating to dental practitioners published between 2000 and June 2016 in English. All research designs were included. Following initial and detailed screening, included papers were...

Exploring Professionalism among Final Year Dental Students and New Graduates: Translating Knowledge to Practice

European Journal of Dentistry, 2022

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate senior students' and dental graduates' perception of professionalism as defined by international regulatory bodies and to assess students' ability to apply such knowledge in clinical-based scenarios. Materials and Methods Knowledge of professional competencies was conducted using a survey based on domains of professionalism for a newly qualified general dental practitioner as defined by international regulatory bodies. This survey consists of 32 items addressing participants' perception of three domains of professionalism. Application of the perceived professional competencies was tested by asking participants to answer questions following the observation of a clinical-based scenario video where participants needed to identify issues related to professional, ethical, and communication skills, which were embedded in the scenarios. Statistical Analysis Differences were analyzed using ANOVA and t-tests (p<0.05). Results Data from 146 participants showed no significant differences in the survey scores between the participants' professional levels, place of practice, age groups, and genders. Analyses of correlation between the different domains of professionalism showed significant relationships between pair-wise comparisons of the total domain scores. Paired t-tests revealed that the mean score percentage for each of the three domains of professionalism was significantly higher than the responses reported in the relevant clinical-based scenario questions. Conclusions This indicates that all domains of professionalism contributed in a similar way to their overall assessment. Furthermore, our findings show that dental practitioners may not be able to apply their knowledge of professionalism in real-life scenarios. This suggests that teaching professionalism at the early stages of the dental curriculum should incorporate innovative approaches to mimic real-life scenarios.

Patients’ perception about professionalism in dental practice: Experience in a southwestern tertiary institution

Nigerian Journal of Dental Research

Objective: When individuals have negative perceptions about dental care, they refuse to seek treatment which leads to worsened conditions. The interactions with patients attending the various dental clinics revealed some dissatisfaction with the quality of service delivered. The objective of this study was to assess the perception of the patients about the dentists and dental nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of three months among old and new patients attending the Oral Diagnosis, Periodontology, Orthodontic, Oral Surgery, Conservative, Prosthetic and Paedodontic Clinics at the dental centre, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The data was collected using an English-language questionnaire and analysed using the IBM SPSS Software version 23. Results: There were 228 participants, majority were females (55.4%) and belonged to the 56 years and above age group (20%). The patients agreed (40.6%) and strongly agreed (32.1%) that the f...

Dental students’ perception and knowledge regarding the importance of professionalism in dentistry: A cross sectional study

Pakistan Journal of Medical and Health Sciences

Background: Professionalism has been recognised as an essential component of dental practise since the twenty-first century. Various researchers have published definitions of professionalism, but the perception of dental students and graduates regarding professionalism in Pakistan has been limited. Objective: The main objective was to explore the awareness and importance of professionalism among the undergraduate dental students in Pakistan. Method: This cross-sectional research was carried out among the third and final year dental students from August to December 2021. Written consent was attained from all the study participants. Data was collected and statistically analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Version 21. The Chi-square test is conducted to assess the association between the variables. Results: From a total of 201 participants, 95 males (47.3%) and 106 females (52.7%) were involved. Among these, there were 93 (46.3%) 3rd year and 108 (53.6%) 4th year...