Calling all final year dental students

Christine Gordon, a dental student in her final year at the University of Sheffield, explores the possibilities of making the transition from undergraduate to foundation training an easier process.

This year, some final year dental students and I have entered the unknown - a brand new DF1 application system allegedly 'based on the medical model'. This article will explain the system, and how using this Facebook group, could make the outcome of the process far easier, especially if you are allocated to a scheme where you do not know anyone.

Previously, dental students have had the freedom to apply to whichever Deaneries they wish, hand CVs out to numerous practices, have interviews where invited and await job offers. For years, undergraduates had complained about the "bun fight" application process with 'deals behind closed doors' making it far from being fair. The BDA student body lobbied hard for a new system. Thus COPDEND have introduced national recruitment.

Dental graduates wishing to complete DF1 in England or Wales were required to fill out an application form online for the first time this year. Unlike the medical model, we were required to rank 74 schemes in order of preference - many an hour was spent on Google maps trying to locate largely unheard-of schemes such as Fazakerley or Welwyn Garden City.

We were informed that extra curricular achievements would not contribute to our final mark - very different to the medical model! It wouldn't matter if you had received a distinction in every exam and captained the first university football team - all dental graduates would be placed on the same level. Hardly fair when 85% of us have strived to have the perfect attendance record, worked hard for academic awards and taken part in extracurricular activities to make our CVs stand out. Nothing counts - the slate has been wiped clean, everyone is the same and it all rests on a single interview. Is this fair? Of course, those who have scraped through during their time at dental school are elated by the new system but the rest of us are left feeling cheated.

Six weeks after the application deadline the dreaded interviews were held at five different assessment centres over  four days. We were advised in advance that there would be three different stations - a 30-minute written paper, a 14-minute clinical station with an actor and a 14 minute leadership and management scenario. Mark schemes for the latter two were made available online prior to the interviews, which was helpful.

On reflection, many dental students felt it was misleading to call the process an interview - there was no interviewing whatsoever. It would have been more appropriate to call it an exam and indeed at some centres, candidates were welcomed by a sign saying 'Quiet please, examination in progress'. Some students had prior knowledge of what others had been asked elsewhere so were immediately at an unfair advantage. Seemingly there was a bank of questions for the final station, making it less likely that you would be given the same scenario as your friend interviewed the day before. On the other hand, the clinical scenario was exactly the same for every interview. People talk - many of those interviewed later on in the week knew more than those at the beginning of the week.

Further concerns were regarding the calibration of the system - was it likely that two different interviewers would mark Candidate X with exactly the same mark? This is doubtful with over 120 different examiners and 25 different actors - some were reported to have been aggressive and others very pleasant. How will the dental students who receive the same mark from the interview be fairly distinguished from each other to receive an individual ranking? How many percentage points will separate each candidate? These questions have yet to be answered.

Interviews completed, the 1142 interviewees are nervously awaiting the email, which will dictate their lives next year - where will we live next year? Will we be close to our family and friends? Will we know anybody when we move there? Will we be allocated to a scheme at all? These are real concerns expressed by many undergraduates; it has been estimated that up to 150 candidates out of the 1142 interviewed, will not be offered a DF1 post come 15 December  - the date given by COPDEND for candidates to be informed of their fate.

As an attempt to potentially make next year less daunting for everyone, I have made a Facebook group with a view to enabling everyone who applied to national recruitment this year to join. On the group I have created 74 scheme titled documents - aiming for candidates to post their names under the relevant one. That way, there is the potential to get to know fellow young dentists on the same scheme months before, and possibly sort out accommodation with each other.

But what about the dental graduates who are not allocated a scheme at all? Clearly a few extra places will become available if those offered them next week fail finals, reject the place offered or if the Department of Health decides to make more places available. It is therefore important that those not offered a place initially, don't lose hope and realise that there is a chance they will be offered a place in months to come. I have however, set up a separate group (details available via the main group), which has a panel of dentists who have offered to support those who were unfortunately unsuccessful at this stage. Alternatively, there is an email address linked directly to the panel, if people would rather not join that group.

To date there are over 550 members - just less than half of all the dental students who applied to national recruitment. I am very keen  for the remainder to join - If you stumble across this, and know any final years, please forward the link to them and ask them to add their colleagues too. https://www.facebook.com/groups/101286666654777/

If this can get up and running perhaps next year might not be as lonely and intimidating as anticipated by many.