Preparation of dental and nursing professionals within Swedish higher education: navigating to confidence in literacies and professional knowledge

Abstract

BackgroundThe professional education of dentists and nurses includes literacy, academic and professional literacy, and professional knowledge. These have a reciprocal relationship and contribute to the development of students and professionals. However, this is an area in need of further exploration. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate dentists’ and nurses’ experiences of academic and professional literacy and professional knowledge at the time of their graduation, and five years into their profession.MethodsThe material consisted of an evaluation distributed twice to dentists and nurses. The first time was immediately after graduation (degree evaluation), and the second time was five years after graduation (alum evaluation). Approximately 30% of the dentists and the nurses responded both times. We analyzed the data using non-parametrical methods.ResultsUpon graduation, the dentists scored high in academic and professional literacy and knowledge. Five years into the profession, dentists reported experiencing challenges with communication in English and tasks related to equitable treatment and equal rights. Nurses followed a similar pattern as the dentists. Still, by graduation, the newly graduated nurses expressed concerns about communication in English, and promoting sustainable development within their profession. The challenges persisted five years into their profession, particularly in areas such as communication in English and sustainable development, as well as work related to equitable treatment and equal rights.ConclusionsThe level of confidence and perception of a sufficient degree of knowledge regarding academic literacy, professional literacy, and professional knowledge is higher at the time of graduation in both professions compared to five years into the profession, where there is a decrease in areas concerning work related to equitability, and equality, and for dentists also in communication in English. Furthermore, nurses had a constant low confidence rating in both evaluations concerning sustainable development and communication in English. This indicates that targeted and continuous professional development is crucial to address these challenges and to bridge the gap between the knowledge and confidence levels at graduation and the evolving demands of professional practice over time. Thus, when reconstructing the overall curriculum in professional educations it is of great importance to provide tools to enhance future professional development rather than the perception of that they can rely solely on their education at graduation time.