Continuing education: views of Jordanian general dental practitioners

Objectives This study was conducted to assess the views of the Jordanian general dental practitioners (GDPs) on the provision of continuing education to develop an educational programme that meets their needs. Methods A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 200 GDPs working in eleven governances in Jordan in order to assess their views on: topics they would like continuing education programmes (CEPs) to cover, continuing education methods they prefer, timing of these programmes, frequency and place to hold these programmes. They were also asked if they had attended such programmes before and if they consider such programmes important for the development of the profession. Results The vast majority of the respondents (96.3%) thought that CEPs were important for the development of their profession, but only 73.8% of them attended CEPs during their period of registration. Male dentists were more likely to embark on CEPs (P= 0.01) and GDPs with a registration period of more than 5 years were more likely to undertake CEPs (P = 0.04). Implantology (43.9%) and Oral Surgery (34.6%) were the most popular courses attended. However, Endodontics followed by Implantology were the most desired topics. 54.2% of the respondents preferred workshops as a mean to deliver the educational material as half day sessions (77.6%). There was no significant relationship between the suggested timing of, frequency of or place to hold future CEPs and the gender, period of registration, sector of work or place of qualification of the respondents. Conclusion There is a need to implement re-certification for dentists as a mean to ensure a high standard, up to date quality of care to patients in Jordan. Dentists’ needs should be met by a well structured continuing education programs provided in a suitable format for most and at convenient times for the majority. Introduction Continuing professional development of health workers has been defined as the systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of knowledge and skills and development of personal qualities necessary for the execution of professional and technical duties throughout the practitioner’s working life 1 (MacGregor et al 1991). Attendance of CEPs by dentists is important for the practitioner, the profession and the patient 2 (du Preez et al 1993). In the developed world the provision of continuing education for GDPs has been emphasised, it has become statutory. However, in the developing world little if any has been done on CEPs for GDPs. Globalization and advances in information technology have affected oral health education, this is an age when bringing students to the source of knowledge is not the standard, the time has come to bring sources of knowledge to students 3 (Barley SR 1999). This has been reflected on the methods used for delivering continuing education in dentistry. In addition to the traditional means such as: workshops, courses, journals etc..., multimedia and most recently online courses have been introduced. Online dental CEPs are available at any time from any location that has an Internet connection and the total cost per unit is substantially lower compared to traditional continuing education courses 4 (Clark GT 2003). The aims of our survey were to determine the interest by Jordanian GDPs in CEPs, and to focus the attention of CEP providers on the perceived needs of their audience. Materials and Methods A questionnaire was devised to investigate general practitioners’ views of the provision of CEPs in Jordan. General dental practitioners were asked, firstly, if they considered such programmes necessary for their profession, then asked if they have attended CEPs before and requested to state what disciplines they have attended. The provision of CEPs in the future was also assessed; they were asked to write down what topic/s they would like CEPs to cover, and finally asked about the method(s) they preferred for providing CEPs; the preferred timing, frequency and place to hold such events. Although the questionnaire was anonymous, respondents were requested to provide demographic details such as their age, gender, work sector (private clinic, hospital), period of registration (years) and place of qualification. A random sample of 200 GDPs working in eleven governances in Jordan was generated from the Jordanian Dental Register – specialist practitioners were excluded. The questionnaires were mailed as part of a package which included a covering letter explaining the reasons for the survey and confirming anonymity, as well as a prepaid reply envelope. The responses were numerically coded and entered into a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) database and analysed. Chi-square tests were used to compare the number of respondents in different subgroups and the associations between different factors. Differences at the 5% level were accepted as significant (P<0.05). Results Of the 200 GDPs to whom the questionnaires were sent, 107 (53.5%) returned fully completed forms. The demographic and professional characteristics of the respondents are shown in Table 1. The respondents ranged in age from 23 to 56 years with a mean age of 33.7 (median = 31; standard deviation = 8.39). Of the respondents, 80.4% (86) were males and 19.6% (21) were females. About 60% of respondents had more than 5 years of experience and the majority graduated from Jordan, other Arab countries and Eastern Europe. The vast majority of the respondents (96.3%) thought that CEPs were important for the development of their profession. However, only 73.8% of the respondents have attended CEPs during their period of registration. Table 1 shows the relationship between the attendance of CEPs and the demographic and professional characteristics of respondents. Significantly more male GDPs have attended CEPs during their period of registration than female GDPs (P = 0.01). In addition, graduates from countries other than Jordan have attended CEPs significantly more (P = 0.04) than those who have qualified in Jordan. Although higher percentage of those GDPs with 6-10 years of experience have attended CEPs compared with those 5 or less years of experience (P = 0.04), there was no change in the percentage of attendance when the groups 6-10, 10-15, and more than 15 years of experience were compared. The most popular courses attended by the respondents GDPs were in Implantology (43.9%), Oral Surgery (34.6%), Conservative Dentistry (22.4%) and Orthodontics (22.4%), whereas a minority of the respondents attended CEPs in Oral Medicine and Pathology, Radiology and Dental Materials (Figure 1). The suggested topics by respondents GDPs for CEPs are shown in Table 2. The most popular topics suggested were: Endodontics followed by, Implantology, TMJ problems, Oral Surgery and Periodontology. In addition, more than one-third of the respondents suggested topics in Orthodontics, new products and materials and Fixed Prosthetic Dentistry. Figure 2 shows the methods suggested by respondents for the provision of future CEPs. Workshops, courses and seminars were the most favoured methods whilst printed materials was the least suggested method of future CEPs (Figure 2). The suggested timing for the provision of CEPs is shown in Figure 3. The majority (42.1%) of respondents suggested evening sessions and 35.5% suggested morning sessions. Figure 4 shows the suggested frequency of future CEPs; most respondents (30.8%) suggested running these programmes every month, however, 27.1% suggested running such programmes every six months. The suggested place to hold future CEPs is shown in Figure 5; the majority (51.4%) have suggested the Jordanian Universities to hold such events. No significant relationship was found between the suggested timing of, frequency of or place to hold future CEPs and the gender, period of registration, sector of work or place of qualification of the respondents.