Motivations and future plans of the final year students in a Chinese dental school

Abstract

Background Understanding dental students’ future career choice and motivation could provide beneficial references for both educators and students, but there were few studies on students in a Chinese dental school. The study aimed to investigate Chinese final year dental students’ the short-term and long-term plans, motivations, and identify the influence of gender on the future plans. Methods A total of 265 final year dental school students of the School of Stomatology, China Medical University from 2016 through 2020 were invited to complete an anonymous, 27-item questionnaire. Moreover, almost all of questions were in multiple-choice formats. Data were categorized and analysed using chi-square comparative analyses. Results 88.3% of respondents decided to pursue a graduate degree after graduating from dental school. Moreover, the single most important reason influencing their plans was “eligible for better jobs” (42.8%). More females than males studied dentistry (222 vs 111), and gender had an influence on the choice of specialty. Conclusions This study listed the selection tendency and influencing factors of students in a Chinese dental school for the reference of educators and students. And the results could raise some useful influence and feedback effect on current health and education policy, and on the career development of practicing dentists or dental students.

Perceptions and preferences for dental specialties among undergraduate students and dental interns in Kenya

“…8 Similar findings have been reported in other studies where, for example, a higher desire to specialise was seen among Chinese and Nigerian dentists due to the perceived associated better financial returns when compared to a lower desire among Japanese, Australian and New Zealand students whose motivation in the profession was to help people and intellectual stimulation. 6,9,18,19 Contrary to findings in this study, some countries such as Saudi Arabia 20 and Japan 6 have reported influence by family members as a key factor determining choice of career in dentistry. The preference for pediatric dentistry by females more than males is consistent with a number of studies such as one in the UK.…”

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“…This study is done to document the motivation levels of dental students and house officers in LMDC and their choice of field after graduation. There is a significantly higher number of female participants in the current study reflecting the higher ratio of 12,13,14 females choosing dentistry as a profession. However the responses recorded did not show a significant difference in career choices and reasons for choosing any specific field are same for both genders.…”

Mapping of dental graduates’ career paths in Hong Kong, Japan and mainland China

“…There are 3 main career choices for dental graduates in mainland China: (1) to be a general dentist, who works mainly in county-level medical institutions or urban private dental clinics; (2) to pursue further training to become a specialist by completing a clinical dental master's degree program; and (3) to work as teaching or academic staff in a university or college by completing an academic master's degree program and sometimes a PhD degree is required. It should be pointed out that a national standardized residency training system was established in mainland China in 2014 (27).…”

“…Dental graduates in different places report a variety of motivations and plans for career development. In mainland China, according to a survey conducted in 2022, a majority of dental graduates (88%) decided to pursue postgraduate degrees to increase their competitiveness in finding better jobs ( 2 ). Three favourite disciplines ranked by students were prosthodontics, oral surgery, and orthodontics ( 3 ).…”