Self perception of key skills required by undergraduates in an Indian dental school

Abstract

To assess the dental undergraduate student’s self- perception of key skills required. The study was undertaken as part of a curriculum evaluation of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery program at VishwanathKatti Institute of Dental Sciences, KLE University, Belgaum, Karnataka, India. A cross-sectional survey of the first 3 classes of students (third year, final year and Intern) who followed similar curricular formats were the participants. The survey was conducted on a voluntary and anonymous basis. A questionnaire was developed specifically for the purpose of eliciting student perception of 50 essential dental practice skills on a five point Likert scale. The self-ratings done by three different classes of students showed a remarkable consistency in identifying the key skills required. Student perception among the three classes was consistent in more than 60% of skills required in dental practice. The skills identified as top ten (most required) were those where training was emphasized by most of disciplines of dentistry and lowest ten (least required) were those that required greater expertise and time. These latter skills have been identified as areas that require curricular reforms. Dental schools can use these items as standard tools for reformatting curricula. Students’ self-perception of required skills is a useful tool for evaluating the clinical training programs provided in a dental school curriculum as the students are also key stake holders.