Abstract
ObjectiveIt is recognised that professionalism should play a central role in dental education. However, its implementation into the curricula of dental schools is still limited. Our objective was to identify the main values related to professionalism based on the perceptions of students and faculty members from the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Chile.MethodsA Dental Values Survey was validated and culturally adapted in order to guarantee the greatest possible internal validity. The adapted survey was administered to students and faculty members (416 and 225, respectively). The final survey contained 64 items rated on a Likert scale of 1‐5. Each item was categorised according to five dimensions: Altruism, Consciousness, Personal Satisfaction, Quality of Life and Professional Status. The values were compared between faculty and students and among students at different courses. A values scale was constructed by selecting the five items with the highest average score for each dimension.ResultsSurvey respondents composed 34.32% of the universe, of which 50.46% were faculty and 49.54% were students. Values associated with Altruism, Consciousness and Professional Status, were the highest rated by students and faculty. Values associated with Personal Satisfaction and Quality of Life received the lowest scores for both groups.ConclusionsTo provide the best possible attention to patients (Consciousness), and that patients have access to affordable dental care (Altruism), are the values at the top of our scale. On the other hand, to maintain financial stability and to be well paid (Quality of Life) were the less considered.
Highlights
There are several definitions of professionalism in the literature such as the stated by Masella who considers that is the display of high intellectual, technical, and moral qualities and abilities, in service to patients and community[1] or the definition proposed by Trathen and Gallagher which is an amended form from the Royal College of Physicians and states that dental professionalism implies a set of val‐ ues, behaviours and relationships that underpins the trust the public has in dentists.[2]
Many hold the view that dental schools are responsible for developing academic lesson plans that incorporate both specific technical skills and transversal compe‐ tencies to ensure the development of certain attitudes, values and ethical behaviours among students.[1,4,5,6,7,8]
Existing evidence in dental education suggests that the professional attitudes taught to students in dental programmes will greatly determine the attitudes with which students will exercise their profession as a dentist.[9]
Summary
There are several definitions of professionalism in the literature such as the stated by Masella who considers that is the display of high intellectual, technical, and moral qualities and abilities, in service to patients and community[1] or the definition proposed by Trathen and Gallagher which is an amended form from the Royal College of Physicians and states that dental professionalism implies a set of val‐ ues, behaviours and relationships that underpins the trust the public has in dentists.[2]. Many hold the view that dental schools are responsible for developing academic lesson plans that incorporate both specific technical skills and transversal compe‐ tencies to ensure the development of certain attitudes, values and ethical behaviours among students.[1,4,5,6,7,8] Existing evidence in dental education suggests that the professional attitudes taught to students in dental programmes will greatly determine the attitudes with which students will exercise their profession as a dentist.[9] early instruction on professional attitudes and on related educational values is of notable importance, where dental students, and future dentists, can effectively be taught the level of professionalism re‐ quired to meet ethical standards in dentistry. The applica‐ tion of this approach will result in better dental care for patients.[10,11,12,13]
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