J Educ Eval Health Prof.  2017;14:11. 10.3352/jeehp.2017.14.11.

Establishment of a dental license regulation authority is required in Korea: results of the Delphi technique

• Choi JW
• Kim KK
• Lee J
• Choi DJ
• Kim KN

• KMID: 2406674
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2017.14.11

Abstract

PURPOSE
In addition to dental education, a system for the evaluation and management of dental licensing and certification is required to meet the growing societal demand for more competent dentists. In this study, the Delphi technique was used to gather opinions from a variety of professionals on the problems of and remedies for the dental license management system in Korea.
METHODS
Delphi surveys were conducted from April 2016 to October 2016 in South Korea. A variety of dental professionals were included and categorized into 3 groups according to their expertise as follows: the basic dentistry group, the clinical dentistry group, and the policy group. The Delphi technique was conducted in 3 rounds of e-mail surveys, each with different questions that probed with increasing depth on the dental license management system. In each successive round, the responses were categorized, scored on a Likert scale, and statistically analyzed.
RESULTS
After categorizing the results of the first survey and ranking the results of the second survey using the Delphi technique, regulation by a licensing authority was found to be the most critical issue. This was followed by the license renewal system, continuing education, a tiered licensure system, improvement of foreign license approval, and utilization of retirees, in decreasing order of importance. The third Delphi survey showed a similar ranking, with regulation by a licensing authority being the major concern. Opinions regarding the dental license management system were provided as open-ended responses. The responses of the 3 groups showed statistically significant differences in the scores for the issue of regulation by a licensing authority. After re-grouping into the dentistry group and the policy group, the issue received a significantly higher score in the dentistry group.
CONCLUSION
The quality of dental treatment should be managed to protect patients and dental professionals. For this purpose, the establishment of an independent license regulation authority along with legislative changes is required.

Keyword

Delphi technique; Dental licensure; Quality control

MeSH Terms

Certification
Delphi Technique*
Dentistry
Dentists
Education, Continuing
Education, Dental
Electronic Mail
Humans
Korea*
Licensure*
Licensure, Dental
Quality Control

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Importance of potential improvements for license management (second round). 1, regulation by licensing authority; 2, continuing education; 3, license renewal system; 4, leveled license system; 5, improvement of foreign license approval; 6, utilization of retirees.

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  Fig. 2. Priority ranking of potential improvements for license management (second round). 1, regulation by licensing authority; 2, continuing education; 3, license renewal system; 4, leveled license system; 5, improvement of foreign license approval; 6, utilization of retirees.

Reference

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