Department of Dentistry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
Department of Dentistry, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
BMC Med Educ. 2020 Apr 28;20(1):129. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02032-5.
Each year, more than 200 international dental graduates start U.S. specialty trainings to become specialists. It is unknown if their life satisfaction is associated with any dental career-related factor before residencies (e.g. dental school class rank, research experience, or private practice experience) and after residencies (e.g. staying in the U.S., teaching status, workplace, or board certification). This cross-sectional study aimed to identify these potential factors by surveying Taiwanese dental graduates who pursued U.S. residencies.
Life satisfaction was measured with a structured questionnaire, Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), which includes five statements on a 5-point Likert scale. Online surveys were sent out to 290 Taiwanese dental graduates who were known to pursue U.S. residencies. T-test, one way analysis of variance, and multivariable adjusted generalized linear model (GLM) were used to assess the differences of mean SWLS scores from different variables.
Surveys were completed by 158 dentists. Mean SWLS score of 125 specialists was higher (p = 0.0007) than the score of 33 residents. For the 125 specialists, multivariable adjusted GLM demonstrated better life satisfaction was positively associated with multiple independent factors, such as having research experience, being ranked in the top 26 ~ 50% of the class in dental school, starting U.S. residency within 4 years after dental school, starting residency before year 1996, and specializing in endodontics (vs. periodontics). Life satisfaction was not associated with any factors after residency (e.g. staying in the U.S. afterwards, teaching status, or workplace), but better mean life satisfaction score was significantly associated with being American specialty board certified (p < 0.001) for the specialists in the 26 ~ 75% of their class in dental school. For the 33 residents, better mean life satisfaction score was associated with better dental school class rank in both bivariate (p = 0.020) and multivariable adjusted GLM (p = 0.004) analyses.
The life satisfaction of Taiwanese dental graduates pursuing U.S. residencies might be associated with some professional factors, such as research experience, dental school class rank, residency timing, specialty type, and specialty board certification. We hope our results may provide some objective information on making career decisions for international dental graduates/students who are preparing for U.S. residency.
每年有超过 200 名国际牙科毕业生开始接受美国专业培训，以成为专家。目前尚不清楚他们的生活满意度是否与居住前（例如牙科学校班级排名、研究经验或私人执业经验）和居住后（例如留在美国、教学状态、工作场所或董事会认证）的任何牙科职业相关因素有关。本横断面研究旨在通过调查在台湾攻读美国住院医师的牙科毕业生来确定这些潜在因素。
使用结构问卷测量生活满意度，满意度生活量表（SWLS），其中包括五个 5 点李克特量表上的陈述。向已知在美国从事住院医师的 290 名台湾牙科毕业生发送在线调查。使用 t 检验、单因素方差分析和多变量调整广义线性模型（GLM）评估不同变量的 SWLS 评分均值的差异。
完成调查的牙医有 158 名。125 名专家的平均 SWLS 分数较高（p=0.0007），高于 33 名居民的分数。对于 125 名专家，多变量调整 GLM 表明，生活满意度的提高与多个独立因素呈正相关，例如具有研究经验、在牙科学校排名前 26%50%、在美国牙科学校毕业后 4 年内开始住院医师、在 1996 年之前开始住院医师和专攻牙髓学（与牙周病学相比）。生活满意度与居住后的任何因素（例如留在美国、教学状态或工作场所）无关，但对于牙科学校班级排名在 26%75%的专家，更好的平均生活满意度评分与获得美国专业委员会认证显著相关（p<0.001）。对于 33 名居民，更好的平均生活满意度评分与牙科学校班级排名在双变量（p=0.020）和多变量调整 GLM（p=0.004）分析中均呈正相关。
追求美国住院医师的台湾牙科毕业生的生活满意度可能与一些专业因素有关，例如研究经验、牙科学校班级排名、住院医师时间、专业类型和专业委员会认证。我们希望我们的结果可以为准备在美国从事住院医师的国际牙科毕业生/学生提供一些有关职业决策的客观信息。
