Perceptions of e-professionalism among dental students: a UK dental school study

The social media activity of some healthcare students has created doubt about their ability to uphold and defend the ethical principles of healthcare in their online behaviours. A lot of research has been conducted on the online behaviours of medical and allied health professional students, however, less has been undertaken on dental students.

The aim was to determine whether students were aware of the guidelines set by the General Dental Council (GDC) regarding social media and whether they believed they were being professional in their online activities.

Eighty-eight dental students (46 from year 2; 42 from year 4) at one UK dental school completed a questionnaire study examining their attitude towards and perceptions of e-professionalism.

The results show that most students were heavy users of social media with an awareness of social media guidelines set out by the GDC. However, student responses to various e-professionalism scenarios reveals disagreement on whether posts referring to alcohol and work colleagues were deemed unprofessional.

Student perceptions of and attitudes towards e-professionalism is complicated and contradictory. More research will need to be undertaken to explore how we can inculcate e-professional values and behaviours in dental professionalism teaching.