A survey on the effectiveness of residency standardized training in periodontology

Objective To investigate the current status and competency of residency training graduates on periodontal diagnosis and treatment at Department of Stomatology, in Peking Union Medical College Hospital(PUMCH) and to evaluate the training outcomes of standardized periodontal training in order to support optimizing the training curriculum. Methods The questionnaires were distributed to trainees who had completed standardized training in the Department of Stomatology at PUMCH. The survey covered their current clinical practice in receiving periodontal patients, diagnostic and treatment capabilities, application of periodontal-related technologies during training, main problems encountered in clinical work, and evaluation of the training program. Results A total of 46 valid questionnaires were collected in this survey. Of the respondents, 84.78% treated patients with periodontal complaints with routine method, 89.13% performed sub-gingival scaling and root planning. In the view point of clinical practice, poor patient compliance (82.61%) and complex systemic disease management (69.57%) were identified as the primary challenges. Training needs were primarily concentrated in three areas: basic periodontal surgery(86.96%), relationship between systemic diseases and periodontitis (56.52%), patient communication and compliance management (39.13%). Overall, 65.22% of trainees considered the complexity of cases encountered during standardized training to be well-matched with actual clinical practice, and the average rating for the helpfulness of periodontal training was 4.5 out of 5. Conclusions The standardized periodontal training has achieved remarkable results. Future training should focus on strengthening content related to systemic disease management, doctor-patient communication skills and periodontal surgery.