Leadership competencies for dentists: What do undergraduate students think?

Dentists face difficult situations and challenges every day, but undergraduate dental students in Pakistan are not formally taught leadership skills or assessed for these skills. This study aims to explore the perception of undergraduate dental students on various leadership competencies. A multi-institutional cross-sectional observational study was conducted on undergraduate students in five institutions by using universal sampling technique. Students were asked to self-assess various leadership competencies for dentists based on 15 competencies using a validated questionnaire utilizing Likert scale response format. Responses to these items were presented as frequency and percentage. The overall scores were presented in mean and standard deviation and median and interquartile range. The differences in median scores of all items of the questionnaire between male and female students were determined with Mann Whitney U tests. The year-wise differences in the median of all response items of the questionnaire were determined using Kruskal Wallis H test. A total of 750 students, of which 570 (76%) were females and 180 (24%) were males, participated in the study. Most of the students (n = 708, 94.4%) did not attended any leadership course or workshop in the last five years. Majority of the students perceived that their leadership competencies were fair to excellent. Empathy was perceived as 'excellent' by the majority of the students (n = 294, 39.2%). Majority of the students (n = 319, 42.5%) perceived that their 'authenticity' skills were 'good'. Statistically significant differences were reported between male and female students in most of the leadership skills including 'compassion', 'advocacy skills', 'inquiry skills', 'empathy', 'integrity', 'ability to build trust with others', 'managing conflict', 'leading groups/teams', 'dealing with difficult personalities', and 'likelihood to exercise leadership during a crisis' (p < 0.05). There were also significant differences in the median item scores in 13 out of 15 leadership domains and the year of study (p < 0.05). The study identified the perceptions of students regarding different leadership competencies. It gives indications that which leadership competencies need to be incorporated, promoted, and enhanced in leadership curriculum to make them effective dental practitioners and leaders in future. Incorporating these targeted leadership courses into the curriculum can provide participants with the opportunity to refine their existing leadership strengths and develop a well-rounded set of competencies essential for making a significant contribution in their chosen fields.