Perceptions of the First Dental Graduates from Usim on Their Competence

The Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program has run for over 40 years and the approaches to learning and teaching vary. However, recently it was decided that all BDS programs in Malaysia had to fulfil a set of minimum competency requirements based on three main domains; knowledge, skills and attitudes. The Faculty of Dentistry, USIM has taken an innovative approach to evaluate the perception of its new dental graduates on all of these domains. This study was conducted on the first cohort of graduating students from USIM. The objectives of this study were to evaluate self-rated competencies upon graduation and to determine the baseline competencies of these graduates. It is self-rated and based on the 8 domains listed by the Ministry of Higher Education. The objectives relating to the minimum competencies were sent to all 29 graduates before they had commenced to work in the field. Twenty five out of 29 responded to the questionnaire. The survey used a Likert scale (1=very poor, 2=poor, 3=average, 4=good, 5=very good and 9=cannot judge). It was found that the percentage of rankings for good to very good categories combined in each domain were; D1-96%, D2-79%, D3-76%, D4-82%, D5-85%, D6-50%, D7-68% and D8-32%. In conclusion, the domains of knowledge (D1), values, ethics, morality and professionalism (D4) and communication skills and interpersonal relationship (D5) showed higher percentages compared with the other domains. In contrast, the D8 domain which focuses on managerial and entrepreneurial skills showed the lowest percentage. This reflects the reduced emphasis on this domain in the USIM program. The findings provide valuable insights for reviewing and further improvement of the existing curriculum.