Perception of studying dental law and ethics among postgraduate dental students in the UK

Abstract

Law and ethics is an integral part of medical and dental professional practice. The subject is touched upon in the undergraduate curriculum. Historically, dentists interested in postgraduate study in this subject have accessed courses on medical law and ethics. While there are areas of shared interest (for example, consent, confidentiality) there are differences in emphasis and content (for example, end of life care, organ transplants, etc) which are not relevant to dentistry. A new postgraduate certificate (PgCert) course was approved by the University of Bedfordshire designed specifically for dental practitioners, making it the only university accredited course in the UK that is specific to dental staff. Students' perception of the subject of dental law and ethics at a postgraduate level was not known. The first PgCert student cohort was assessed at the start and the end of the course using two questionnaires. Sixteen students, all qualified dental practitioners working in the UK, took part. The perception toward the subject of dental law and ethics was in-line with the current guideline and regulations governing the dental profession. Perception of dental law was clearer at the end of the course compared to the beginning while dental ethics remained a challenging subject.

WITHDRAWN: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Health Legislation and Regulations by Dentists and Stomatologists in the Valencian Community: A KAP Analysis.

“…Those working in General Dentistry and Aesthetics Dentistry are more knowledgeable about aspects of the section on ethics. 4. No signi cant correlation was found between the amount of time spent on the job and the degree of knowledge of the subject.…”

Educational content of professional ethics in postgraduate dental education

“…14 Graduates generally acknowledge their need for ethical reinforcement when starting practice independently. 15 Moreover, studies have shown that knowledge of ethics can follow a downward trend over time. 16 Hence, it is necessary to review the same ethical topics in postgraduate programs.…”

“…They have limited abilities to integrate and use the information in clinical practice due to their inexperience in clinical encounters with ethical topics in predoctoral training 14 . Graduates generally acknowledge their need for ethical reinforcement when starting practice independently 15 . Moreover, studies have shown that knowledge of ethics can follow a downward trend over time 16 .…”

How the vision of a clinician and an educator brought the MA Dental Law and Ethics course to life

“…Teaching and assessing ethical dental practice is a challenge, and students find that ethics is a more challenging as a topic compared to studying dental law. Research showed that PG dental students find studying ethics challenging 3,4 , since studying a multifaceted subject like ethics requires a great deal of thinking and reflection. Dentists with an empirical science background come to the social science of ethics with its own distinctive language, traditions and apparent imprecisions with a mixture of unease, excitement and some confusion.…”