Preparation of dental and nursing professionals within Swedish higher education: navigating to confidence in literacies and professional knowledge

The level of confidence and perception of a sufficient degree of knowledge regarding academic literacy, professional literacy, and professional knowledge is higher at the time of graduation in both professions compared to five years into the profession, where there is a decrease in areas concerning work related to equitability, and equality, and for dentists also in communication in English. Furthermore, nurses had a constant low confidence rating in both evaluations concerning sustainable development and communication in English. This indicates that targeted and continuous professional development is crucial to address these challenges and to bridge the gap between the knowledge and confidence levels at graduation and the evolving demands of professional practice over time. Thus, when reconstructing the overall curriculum in professional educations it is of great importance to provide tools to enhance future professional development rather than the perception of that they can rely solely on their education at graduation time.