University of Manitoba

Survey of Orthodontic Residents

The research problem we have is that there is no information in the literature that describes the demographics, profiles and future motivations of graduate orthodontic resident. It is important that the profession identify if there are individuals interested in pursuing careers in academics and if individuals plan to practice in rural or in urban areas. It is also important to know how orthodontic residents feel about their education, so that curriculum could perhaps be altered and improved. Furthermore, professional organizations can have assistance in drafting policy based on the results of this survey. For instance, knowledge can be gained of how orthodontic residents feel about whether a 35 month program is necessary, or whether a masters of science is necessary. Currently, educators and the Canadian Association of Orthodontists and the Royal College examining board is debating whether to make it a requirement for licensure as an orthodontist for the candidate to be in a 35 month long program. The information gained from this survey will assist in this determination.

Also, an outlook on the future of orthodontic residents will provide the profession with insight on how the profession may unfold in the future. Should educators be concerned that there is a lack of residents interested in pursuing academic careers? Should our country be concerned that a great number of residents that are trained in Canada are going to the United States to practice orthodontics? What type of orthodontics will they practice? Will there be a need for orthodontists to treat patients with cleft lip and palate and craniofacial anomalies? Will their be a need for orthodontists to do research? Motivation for entering into the specialty of orthodontics has not been assessed in the literature and this too will be reflected over in our study. Of all the areas in dentistry, what motivates an individual to select orthodontics? And what is the most important factor leading to that career choice? When did they decide on this career choice? Are our educational systems satisfying the needs of orthodontic residents? Are residents obtaining the appropriate diversity in their education necessary in such times of interdisciplinary care where new technology is constantly emerging. Are the schools keeping abreast with educating their residents on this cutting edge technology? These questions have always interested orthodontic educators and this study will provide them with some insight into the answers. These are the objectives of our study which I hope you can appreciate will provide important knowledge to the specialty of orthodontics in Canada. It is our goal to ultimately publish the results of the survey, so educators and professionals can have this information. This has never before been undertaken.

Currently, there is no literature that outlines this information. There has never before been a similar study and our study is unique and exceptional in this regards.

The sample size, potentially is 51 residents, provided that all respond to the survey. Descriptive statistics as well as chi-squared analyses will be performed. There are five orthodontic programs in Canada with 9-12 residents in each program and a total of 51 residents in all.

If ethics approval is obtained, the department heads of all the five orthodontic programs will be contacted. They will be forwarded a copy of the survey and asked if the investigators can contact their residents by email. The residents will be advised that we are conducting a study to assess their demographics, future directions, motivations for choosing orthodontics and to evaluate their program. The residents will be directed to a website. Once they have completed the questionnaire on the internet, the results will be sent from this website to the principal investigator and he will not receive any knowledge on who answered the questionnaire. The answers are therefore completely anonymous. There is no possible way that the principal investigator can determine who answered the survey that was sent to him. The privacy and confidentiality of the resident will therefore be maintained and they will notified of this in their email. They will be clearly advised that no personal information will be obtained. The person receiving the email will receive no personal information.

Furthermore, the resident does not have to answer all questions and does not have to answer the survey at all if he or she chooses. After one month grace of having an opportunity to complete the survey, the results will be analyzed using the appropriate statistical analysis using descriptive statistics.

The results will be published in a refereed, peer reviewed publication. We plan
on publishing it in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics.

We hope this will help educators and the professional
organizations prepare for the future and educators especially to plan
curriculum and implement changes to their program.