Professionalism in dentistry and preparedness for practice

This two-part study looks to identify the boundaries of professional behaviour for dental professionals.

It is funded by The General Dental Council and we will work alongside the Association for Dental Education in Europe,

Preparedness for practice

There are two primary aims for this part of the study:

1. to explore how well prepared new dental graduates, trained in the UK, are for practice at the point of graduation, in terms of their clinical experience and competence as well as their broader skills
2. to identify what works well in preparing students to be ready for practice as registered dental professionals, including the appropriate evidence to demonstrate preparedness.

More specifically, we will address:

• the extent to which new dental graduates are meeting required learning outcomes and whether this is an effective starting point from which to practice safely
• what factors contribute to variance in preparedness for practice if there are specific skills, tasks or knowledge that graduates are achieving or lacking and the evidence to demonstrate this
• what the potential impact is, on both patients and the profession, of graduates being inadequately prepared for practice
• evidence (from dentistry or other healthcare professions) of ways that preparedness for practice has been defined, addressed and evaluated.

You can read our final report on the GDC Website.

Professionalism

The main aim for this part of the study is to explore and seek consensus on what ‘professionalism’ means to dental professionals and the public, and why being professional matters. More specifically, we will report:

• what aspects of professionalism the public expects from dental professionals (what causes a patient to lose trust), and why these are perceived as important
• how aspects of professionalism may be categorised (eg moral, clinical, personal behavioural; in work, outside work)
• whether expectations of professionalism differ in dentistry compared to other professions, or between dental professionals
• the teaching of professionalism, how the undergraduate curriculum prepares students to meet professionalism expectations and how this is evidenced.

Results

You can read our full report on Professionalism and watch a video of our findings.