Entrepreneurial Knowledge and Intention of House Officers in Dental Hospitals of Twin Cities

Abstract

Introduction: There are limited job opportunities for dentists in Pakistan. International market however has evolved over the years from manual dentistry to robotics to artificial intelligence, simulations, 3D dentistry, and teledentistry and finally to CRISPER. In Pakistan, jobs and such startups / enterprises options are insufficient. Moreover, young dentists are not aware of different entrepreneur options available to them, leading to depression and frustration. This research study was carried out to assess the entrepreneurial intention of house officers in dental hospitals of twin cities.

Material & Methods: It was a cross-sectional study that assessed the entrepreneurial intention among fresh graduates of all the dental colleges in Islamabad / Rawalpindi. A questionnaire was developed on Google form and validated (Cronbach`s alpha> 0.7). The questionnaire link along with the consent form was sent through Whatsapp to Principals of Dental Colleges, who disseminated it to respective house officers. Responses were collected and then descriptive statistics and frequencies were calculated through SPSS to evaluate their level of awareness.

Results: Most of the study participants exhibited familiarity with entrepreneurship, except for queries concerning 1. Entrepreneurial options within Dentistry (48% answered positively), 2. Distinguishing between startup and entrepreneurship (43% answered affirmatively), and 3. Awareness of Dental entrepreneurship as an undergraduate subject (33% responded positively).

Conclusion: Most of the house officers (79%) were worried about limited job opportunities. Despite having awareness about entrepreneurship, their awareness regarding dental entrepreneurship options was limited (45%). They recognized the significance of introducing Dental entrepreneurship as a course at the undergraduate level.