• Janejira Thirawat D.D.S., M.Sc.D., M.S.

Objective To assess the opinions of full-time faculty staffs in clinical departments and dental
practitioners on competencies standard in Dentistry for new dental graduates of Chulalongkorn
University

Material and methods This survey is a cross-sectional descriptive study. The subjects were all 101
full-time faculty staffs in 10 clinical departments of Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University
and 276 random sample of dental practitioners currently practiced both in governmental and/or in
private sectors in Thailand. Competency statements of clinical competencies from competency
standards of 3 dental schools in the United States of America were adapted, translated and used to
construct a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 15 major competencies that included 115
statements. For each statement, a response was requested on a Likert-like 5 point scale and
open-ended opinions. The validity of the questionnaire was reviewed by eight experts in dentistry.
The reliability of the scale was evaluated using its internal consistency as an indicator. The
cronbach coefficient was 0.9745. The measurement was performed once in each group. The obtained
data were analyzed using descriptive statistics

Results The response rates of dental faculty staffs and dental practitioners were 85% (86/101) and
53.3% (150/276) respectively. The mean + SD for 115 competency items ranged from 2.61 + 1.09 to
5.0 + 0.00 for faculty staffs and 2.61 + 1.10 to 4.93 + 0.32 for dental practitioners. The competency
items rated as mostly agreed : agreed : moderately agreed were 47(40.87%):57(49.57%):11(9.56%)
by faculty staffs and 47(40.87%):63(54.78%):5(4.35%) by general practitioners. There were relative
agreement between both groups except for 3 major competencies : occlusal therapy, orthodontic
therapy and community involvement. Open ended opinions revealed various perspectives towards
the statements. Additional standard competencies not being in the questionnaire and recommendation for curriculum improvement were also stated. The results and opinions were instrumental for the curriculum reform of the Faculty of Dentistry of Chulalongkorn University.

Conclusion This study surveyed the opinions of faculty staffs and dental practitioners towards the
proposed clinical competencies for new dental graduates. From this survey, statements that were rated
highly by both faculty staffs and general practitioners could serve as the basis for a core set of
statements to describe the abilities of undergraduates. Statements that received less agreement needed to
be further studied whether they are suitable to be used. Competencies statements in other domains that
were not included in this study should be established and discuss to find consensus.

(CU Dent J. 2007;30:287-302)