Attitude of Dental undergraduates towards Specialization in Covid-19 Pandemic: An Online Survey

Abstract

Introduction The various education bodies are keen on knowing the students’ perspectives on choosing various career paths and their Attitude towards them. This study aimed to record the attitudes of dental undergraduates towards postgraduate specialization in VSPM Dental college and research centre and to recognize if there are any influencing factors. Materials and methods A total of 300 undergraduate students were asked to participate in this cross-sectional survey, survey and a questionnaire were filled out using Google forms. Result The response rate was 100%, including almost 3/4th of female candidates. Students were more inclined towards oral and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontics as their first choice having maximum responses. Most students chose these subjects because of having interests in the field (28.3%) followed by financial reasons at 20.3%; however, the cost of specialization seemed to demotivate a major mass. Conclusion Most students did change their perception of pursuing post-graduation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for dentists of a particular field/specialization in any given area and benefits of post-graduation on financial stability. further studies are required on the topics mentioned above. Keywords Academics during Covid-19, Covid 19 pandemic; attitudes; specialisation