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Factors Associated with the Satisfaction of Millennial Generation Dental Residents
Author(s) -
Lam HwaiTai C.,
O’Toole Terry G.,
Arola Patricia E.,
Kashner T. Michael,
Chang Barbara K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2012.76.11.tb05402.x
Subject(s) - staffing , workload , veterans affairs , curriculum , dental education , medical education , job satisfaction , patient satisfaction , quality (philosophy) , medicine , family medicine , psychology , nursing , computer science , operating system , social psychology , pedagogy , philosophy , epistemology
Data from the 2010 Learners’ Perceptions Survey (LPS) administered through the Office of Academic Affiliations, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were analyzed to identify factors associated with dental residents’ satisfaction with the VA as a clinical training environment. Satisfaction scores were linked to clinic workloads, dental procedure complexity levels, staffing patterns, and facility infrastructure data to explore conditions that may improve residents’ satisfaction. Findings supported the construct validity of the LPS survey data and underscored the importance of maintaining optimal ratios of attending dentists, dental assistants, and administrative staff to residents so that each trainee will have opportunities to perform an adequate level of dental workload. As programs strive to improve the quality of graduate dental education, findings from this study are vital for setting curriculum design guidelines and for providing infrastructure support for dental resident education.