Dental trainee motivations for the acquisition and use of postgraduate qualifications in medical education

Introduction Medical and dental education is increasingly professionalised. The expectation is that educators have appropriate training and qualifications. Entry to dental speciality training is highly competitive and applications are scored using defined criteria, including experience in education. Material and methods We surveyed a group of junior trainees who had enrolled on postgraduate medical education courses to find out more about their motivations and use of their knowledge and qualifications. An online survey tool was used with anonymous participants who had been in junior training jobs in a university dental school, with 117 possible participants. Results In total, 61% of respondents were enrolled in or had completed a postgraduate qualification in medical education, with 85% on a postgraduate certificate programme. Additionally, 77% were in the earliest part of general dental training, and 88% of programmes were distance-learning and cost £2,000 to £4,000. Motivations for enrolling included to ‘improve knowledge in medical education' and ‘increase my chances of progression through training'. Discussion and conclusions We found the most common intrinsic reason to gain a qualification was to improve knowledge in medical education and the most common extrinsic reason was career progression. Scoring of applications into dental speciality training has changed, with points no longer awarded for completing a postgraduate qualification in medical education. Key points Demonstrates the appetite for gaining postgraduate qualifications. Explores motivation and use of postgraduate qualifications. Identifies costs of engaging in postgraduate training.