Impact of the curricular component management and professional guidance on the level of knowledge about administration of dentistry students at UFPB

Abstract

Obtaining basic management skills and including management and leadership as essential components of the curriculum is a critical part of dental students' education. This research evaluated the understanding of management concepts of dental students at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), before and after participating in a Management and Professional Guidance course. This quantitative study assessed the level of knowledge of management skills and competencies of dental students through a validated questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, adopting a significance level of 5%. The sample consisted of 47 students, 18 from the 1st semester, 18 from the 7th semester and 11 from the 10th semester of the course. All students considered knowledge about management extremely important for the dentist. The level of knowledge about management skills and leadership is low among students, with no statistically significant difference between student year of training. Specifically, concerning students midway through their dental training, there was a significant increase in knowledge for all management skills after attending the Management and Professional Guidance course (p <0.05). As for Leadership Skills, there was a statistically significant difference (p <0.05) for "Legal Notions", "Self-Management" and "Management Relationship". We conclude that knowledge about management and leadership is low among undergraduate dental students at UFPB and that the "Management and Professional Guidance" course promoted a significant increase in the level of this knowledge, contributing to better professional training for students.