Factors affecting “preparedness for practice” among newly graduated dentists – A cross-sectional study

Objectives: Consequent to the drastic growth that has occurred over the past few decades in the dental education sector, dental profession in India, has also undergone changes. Hence, it is critical to inquire whether the current training that is being offered to dental students is successful in preparing them adequately to meet the challenges of the changing dental profession. We have aimed to assess the level of preparedness for independent dental practice among newly graduated dentists of Kerala and to explore the factors associated with their preparedness. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among a random sample of 400 recently graduated dentists from Kerala. We developed and validated a self-administered scale named Preparedness for Practice among Dental Graduates-Scale, PPDG-S, to assess the level of preparedness. The overall preparedness scores were categorized based on the median value of the total score (87) – score less than or equal to the median was considered “low preparedness” (0–87) and score greater than the median (>87) was considered “high preparedness.” The difference in proportion between high and low prepared participants across socio- demographic background, training characteristics, and employment characteristics was assessed and the significance was tested using the Chi-square test. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictors of preparedness among recent dental graduates. Results: The majority of the participants reported themselves to be in the “low preparedness” category (209, 52.3%) as compared to the “high preparedness” category (191, 47.8%). In the bivariate analysis, five variables were found to have significant differences in their proportions between the high and low preparedness categories – gender, caste, type of training institution, work experience, and frequent job changes. According to multivariate analysis, being trained in a private/cooperative college (as opposed to a public institution) and not possessing continuous work experience of even 1 year in a single job (as opposed to having a continuous work experience) were found to pose significant adjusted risk for the lower preparedness among graduates. Conclusion: The high proportion of our study participants reporting lower preparedness for independent practice, reflect poor self-rating of their employability. This is critical, when we consider the competitive, saturated private practice sector, and unemployment among young dentists. The relatively higher proportion of poor preparedness among the private sector trained graduates when compared to the government college trained graduates is another matter that raises concern.