Tool for assessment of professional competencies of dental graduates

Objectives: To develop a consistent and reliable tool for self-assessment measure, which may be used for identifying graduate competencies that can be applied or translated to different environments; and assess self-reported level of competencies in all domains of dental graduate practices

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Study Design: A Cross-sectional study design

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Place And Duration: Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi

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Methodology: Thirty-seven items questionnaire related to dental competencies was developed and administered to the first batch of final year BDS students. Responses were recorded on a 3- score Likert scale [0-2]. Reliability and internal consistency of questionnaire was analyzed by computing Cronbach's alpha on SAS Version 9.2, SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA. Mean scores and frequency percentages for each item were calculated using SPSS version 16.0

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Results: Cronbach's coefficient alpha obtained for 5 [out of total 6] domains was 0.70 or higher. Highest competency level was reported for "oral health assessment" [38.2%] with mean score 1.27 [SD= 0.65]. Lowest level reported was for "oral health research" [31.5%] with a mean score 0.86 [SD= 0.68]

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Conclusion: This tool may be helpful in future to assess dental student's professional competencies. Students reported that they have obtained most of the required dental competencies, however, concrete courses on oral health research and attention towards practice management related competencies is required