Evaluation of professionalism in under- and post-graduate dental students

Compliance with professionalism principles and methods affects the practitioner-patient relationship and is of paramount importance. This study endeavors the professionalism in senior and postgraduate dental students.

The cross-sectional study using a descriptive-analytical design was conducted on 153 out of 170 students including 101 senior and 52 postgraduate dental students. The instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire derived from ADEA Tool for Action on Professionalism in Dental Education. After designing the questionnaire, its face validity and content validity were confirmed and reliability was calculated. Data analysis was conducted through Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests with P<0.05.

The mean total score of self-assessment of professionalism in senior dental students was 115.61±12.23 and in postgraduates was 120.17±7.00. The mean score of professionalism (P=0.04, z=2. 02) and subscales of competence (p=0.006, z=2.7) and responsibility (p=0.008, z=0.51). Female postgraduates gained higher scores in total score (p=0.02, χ2(2)=11.46), and responsibility domain (p=0.009, χ2(2)=11.86), than males.

Both groups of under-and-postgraduate dental students gained high scores in professionalism perception. Due to the fact that in some domains, dental students had lower scores, to improve the quality of compliance with the principles of professionalism, it is suggested that to provide training and evaluation of professionalism in lesson plan.