Approach: Undergraduate students perform procedures of straightforward and moderate complexity, and later assisted the clinical specialists during procedures of advanced complexity. students document these cases with clinical photographs and case notes to make presentations that were uploaded in the faculty's online management system to be reviewed by the entire cohort. student groups presented their cases with their entire cohort. an independent assessor assessed the groups for their organization of the case, information collected on the topic, critical analysis of the case, defending the diagnosis and treatment plan, teamwork and presentation skills.
Evaluation: Students reported improvement in the depth of knowledge on particular diseases/procedures, a better understanding of holistic management of advanced cases, improved rapport, team spirit and communication among group members. they also reported difficulties in recruiting and completing the procedures within eight weeks.
Discussion: Apart from improving the clinical experience of undergraduate students, the module provides an opportunity for the development of teamwork, communication skills, and ethical presentations among students, which are invaluable to the faculty to meet its programme learning outcomes. case sharing provides a platform for holistic learning and serves as an alternative learning method aside from didactic lectures and routine clinical supervision.
METHOD: Stakeholders from key dental organisations/professions in Malaysia were purposively sampled and invited to participate in a semi-structured interview (n = 20) using a pre-tested topic guide. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using Framework Analysis.
RESULTS: Drivers for workforce were identified across four main domains: policy-politics; trends in demography; social and economic; and, technology-scientific development. The pace of change and possible interplay between drivers, most notably government policy, liberalisation of education and health services and challenges of workforce governance, followed by Malaysian demography and health trends. Implications for the future, including possible uncertainties, particularly in relation to specialisation and privatisation were identified, together in balancing and meeting public health needs/demands with professional career expectations.
CONCLUSION: Stakeholders' views on the high-level drivers for change broadly mirror those of high-income countries; however, specific challenges for Malaysia relate to rapid expansion of dental education and a young workforce with significant career aspirations, together with imbalances in the health care system. The impact of these drivers was perceived as leading to greatest uncertainty around specialisation and privatisation of the future workforce.
PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: We conducted online in-depth interviews among seven house officers using an interview guide developed based on a literature review. The transcripts were analyzed. Major themes were identified. A 33-item questionnaire was developed, and the main and sub-themes were identified as motivators for specialist career choice. An online survey was done among 185 house officers. Content validation of motivators for specialist choice was done using exploratory factor analysis. First, second and third choices for a specialist career were identified. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were done to determine the socio-demographic factors and motivators associated with the first choice.
RESULTS: HOs perceived that specialist training opportunities provide a wide range of clinical competencies through well-structured, comprehensive training programs under existing specialist training pathways. Main challenges were limited local specialist training opportunities and hurdles for 'on-contract' HO to pursue specialist training. Motivators for first-choice specialty were related to 'work schedule', 'patient care characteristics', 'specialty characteristics', 'personal factors', 'past work experience', 'training factors', and 'career prospects.' House officers' first choices were specialties related to medicine (40.5%), surgery (31.5%), primary care (14.6%), and acute care (13.5%). On multivariate analysis, "younger age", "health professional in the family", "work schedule and personal factors", "career prospects" and "specialty characteristics" were associated with the first choice.
CONCLUSIONS: Medical and surgical disciplines were the most preferred disciplines and their motivators varied by individual discipline. Overall work experiences and career prospects were the most important motivators for the first-choice specialty. The information about motivational factors is helpful to develop policies to encourage more doctors to choose specialties with a shortage of doctors and to provide career specialty guidance.