How competent do our graduates feel?

As part of a review of the undergraduate curriculum to assess its relevance for a future general practitioner, a survey of self-perceived competency at graduation based on the competency list developed by the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry was circulated to recent graduates and the graduating class. The overall response was 67.5 percent, and revealed that approximately 70 percent of the respondents felt well prepared in approximately 69 percent of the competencies. These were the common "bread and butter" items of dentistry, such as basic restorative dentistry, examination, diagnosis, treatment planning, local anaesthesia, and scaling. Those areas reported as less well-prepared for included financial and personnel management, performance of soft-tissue biopsies, and management of chronic orofacial pain. Clarification of the raw survey results in focus groups was needed to uncover specific details that could lead to remedial action in problem areas.