Difficulties Encountered at the Beginning of Professional Life: A Survey among Graduating Students

Methods:Multiple choice question papers were handed out to students having at least 6 months of self-clinical practice. They were asked to classify by order of increasing difficulty 5 different topics, from A to D (D highest level).

[« patient/pratician relationship », « time management », « therapeutic decision-makings », « technical problems », and « administrative matters »].

Each topic was divided in 4 items. Students were asked to classify those items by order of increasing difficulty, from 1 to 4.

Results:Response rate was 94%.

Among the 5 fields, « administrative matters » and « therapeutic decision-making » were the 2 fields presenting the highest level of difficulties (respectively 30,4 % and 26, 8% for level D).

Among the 4 items of « administrative matters » listed, the most recurrent items were : « presentation of an estimate » (65% level 3 or 4), and « relationship with the insurances » (60% level 3 or 4). « Payment of the fees » and « computer utilisation », were far below.

Regarding the 4 items of« therapeutic decison making », « prosthodontics » was rated at the highest level of difficultie for (78,2% level 4). « Surgery » was the next one, (45% level 3). « Restorative dentistry » and « periodontics » were far below.

Conclusion:The results of this survey showed that we could improve dental office management, and that we should develop more « the decison-making training » of our students, especially during the second part of their cursus.