RESUMEN
Dentistry is one of the most prestigious medical specialties in Ukraine. It is also a vital part of the Ukrainian healthcare system. The Ukrainian system of dental education has adapted to European and international curricula. Students enroll in the dental faculty of a medical university after graduating from a high school or dental technician program. After completing five years of training in a university, all graduated students receive the title of "Doctor of Dental Medicine". After graduation from the university, to receive permission for clinical practice (license), dental students with a master's degree must complete a "General Dentistry" course. This qualification allows for providing simple dental treatment. To receive permission to deal with complicated cases, dentists should complete the following courses of specialization: prosthetic dentistry, therapeutic dentistry, pediatric dentistry, surgical dentistry, orthodontics, periodontology, and maxillofacial surgery. When the large-scale invasion began in Ukraine, all educational systems quickly collapsed. Some sectors have been partially restored, but all Ukrainian students and university staff expose themselves to danger when working under the constant threat of missile attack. To sum up, the dental education system in Ukraine is oriented on European standards of education and focuses primarily on clinical experience and skills training.
RESUMEN
Objectives: The objectives of this study are three-fold. First, to highlight areas of shortage in postgraduate dental education in Nigeria, secondly to propose the introduction of dental advisors into our postgraduate dental training and thirdly, to propose a model that could aid such dental advisors in predicting postgraduate dental training choice among Nigerian dental graduates. It is hoped that such a model would have enough predictive powers to aid would-be dental advisors in guiding fresh dental graduates aright in their choice of postgraduate dental training. Methods: Participants were dentists attending compulsory continuing professional development events at different centres across Nigeria. Graded Likert responses of 16 potential predictors of dental postgraduate training choice were obtained through self-administered questionnaires filled by 112 Nigerian dentists (mean age of 35.21 years ± 8.21). Data were analyzed after necessary recodes to allow for meaningful statistical analysis. The predictive power of each factor was determined by inter-specialty and intra-specialty comparisons. Results: A total of 51 males and 61 females participated in the study with predictors rated from 2.29 ± 1.23 to 4.09 ± 1.04. Diagnostic challenge strongly predicted a choice of Oral and maxillofacial surgery. Affluence and income jointly predicted choices of orthodontics and restorative dentistry while the female gender predicted a choice of pediatric dentistry. (P=<0.001). Work-life balance influenced a choice of preventive dentistry-related specialties in combination with other factors. Periodontology had several unique predictors. Conclusions: Income, work hours, private practice opportunity and affluence were stronger predictors than skills and course content in this study. There's a gradual shift from an oral surgery predilection to restorative dentistry. A female predilection for pediatric dentistry and male predilection for oral surgery persist. Endangered specialties like periodontics, prosthodontics justify a call office of postgraduate dental advisors in Nigerian postgraduate dental training to avert the looming dental training manpower crisis.
RESUMEN
Las actuales construcciones curriculares de la carrera de Odontología en Chile, evidencian la necesidad de un nuevo enfoque que articule las reales necesidades sociales y del mundo del trabajo con las propuestas académicas en ejecución. El trabajo que se presenta a continuación analiza las características generales de la formación del odontólogo en Chile y presenta una perspectiva de las demandas futuras, más allá de los procesos de acreditación institucional. Se evidencian algunas incongruencias en los proyectos curriculares relacionados con la contextualización y adecuación a las necesidades actuales de salud. Se concluye que debe hacerse un mejor esfuerzo en la estructuración curricular de la carrera de Odontología para adaptarlo al rápido avance del conocimiento curricular según el cambiante perfil epidemiológico. Si bien se hacen esfuerzos por modernizar los currículos, el insumo necesario para la adecuación curricular debe provenir desde los egresados y se insta a profundizar en esta línea de investigación.
The present curricular structuring of dentistry studies in Chile shows the need of a new approach that combines the real social needs and the requirements of the working world with the academic proposals nowadays. This paper analyzes the general characteristics of the dental training in Chile and presents some perspective of the future demands, beyond the institutional and programs accreditation processes. Some inconsistencies were observed in the curricular projects related to the contextualization and adaptation to the current health needs. It was concluded that great effort should be made in restructuring the curricula of dental training, in order to adapt it to the advancing knowledge according to the changes in the epidemiological profile. Although efforts are being made to update the curricula, the necessary input for curricular suitability should come from graduates, therefore this paper encourages deepening such research line.