A qualitative exploration of the role of gender, ethnicity and clinical experience upon dental students' interpersonal skills when interacting with dental nurses.

AIM

To explore qualitatively the role of gender, ethnicity and clinical experience upon dental students' interpersonal skills when interacting with dental nurses.

METHOD

A convenience sample of 15 clinical dental students studying at Belfast (n = 9) and Leeds (n = 6) were invited to take part. The students were interviewed individually using an open format. Interviewing was stopped after 15 interviews as stability and saturation of the qualitative data had occurred. The data were analysed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Interactions with dental nurses were primarily dictated by the dental students' perceptions of the essential qualities of a dental nurse. Novitiate students perceived the dental nurse as an 'teacher-ally', whereas clinically experienced students used the nurse as a 'helper'. The degree to which dental students embraced hierarchical working styles and professional demarcation was influenced by clinical experience and gender, ethnicity. In order to promote cooperative working when interacting with dental nurses it seemed there was a need to consider incorporating interprofessional and cultural diversity training into undergraduate programmes.

CONCLUSIONS

The dental students' interpersonal skills were affected by clinical experience, gender and ethnicity.