Dentistry as a prospective career choice in india.

Gayatri Devi

doi:10.6026/973206300161134

Abstract

Career choice is a complex decision in a student's life. The opportunity to participate in dental education in many countries, especially in the developing ones, is limited to a small percentage of the community. There is a wide range of options for students to choose as a career in general family, gender, personal interest; outcome expectancies can affect the decision in choosing it. Many studies showed that many individuals find themselves in occupations not really knowing why they made that particular decision. The changing nature of the dental workforce and the need to retain the services of future members has made it important to understand why current dental students have chosen dentistry as their career. However, the choice of dentistry becomes forceful at times by peer pressure, cultural thrust or inability to procure medicine. It is of interest to evaluate dentistry as a prospective career choice in India. The participants answered a questionnaire based online survey and the results were collected and analysed statistically. Analyses of data from the survey shows that majority (36.72%) of students had chosen dentistry as a career choice having missed entry or selection into medicine.

Highlights

The choice of career is a very complex decision made by a student since it decides the kind of profession they choose to pursue in their life [1]
It is of interest to evaluate dentistry as a prospective career choice in India
In the present study we had noticed that the majority of the students 36.27% has chosen dentistry, as they did not get medicine closely followed by peer influence, which was opted by 32.81% of participants

Summary

Background

The choice of career is a very complex decision made by a student since it decides the kind of profession they choose to pursue in their life [1]. It is important to understand the priorities and the background of those choosing dentistry [4]. Many issues may be considered when choosing a career profession even gender and ethnicity may influence the decision [4] It varies from person to person and personal characteristics and motives of the students plays a major role in shaping their career performance [6]. Choosing a career is one of the most important decision students ever make [7]. It is of interest to evaluate dentistry as a prospective career choice in India. 16.41 Yes 40.63 Yes 29.69 High demand 49.22 Yes 50 Yes 35.16 have less knowledge

Peer influence

Findings

Conclusion