The programme looks at the communication styles and techniques employed at the Briar Patch Dental Practice. While the practice and its team members and patients are obviously fictitious, you may find many of the scenes hauntingly familiar.

It includes authentic examples of how skilful and flexible communication in the workplace can reduce or even prevent complaints, litigation and ultimately, loss of income as well as being integral to good patient care.

It also illustrates how getting along with your colleagues and patients reduces stress and creates the good working environment that makes going to work an altogether more positive and rewarding experience.

The programme has been designed for the whole dental team and watching it together can not only be an excellent way to stimulate discussion at team meetings, but also a highly effective way of achieving CPD hours for the whole team at the same time.

You will find out everything you need to know about the role of communication in gaining patient consent and how communication skills can help turn a complaint into an opportunity.

This programme comprises six modules, which can be bought separately, or as a package of six (modules 1 – 6 incl). Modules 4-6 build on the communication skills developed in Modules 1-3

  • Module 1: Essentials of Communication
  • Module 2: Communicating With Your Patients
  • Module 3: Communicating With Your Team
  • Module 4: Communication and Consent
  • Module 5: Communications and Complaints
  • Module 6: Recording Communications

Key Skills In Primary Dental Care Drawing on the key skills component of the MFGDP(UK) examination, this package provides guidance essential to dentists and the whole dental team. Key Skills covers:

  • Clinical record keeping
  • Infection control
  • Legislation and good practice
  • Medical emergencies
  • Radiography
  • Risk management and communication
  • Team training

Completing the Key Skills programme:

  • Demonstrates the practice complies with the seven areas essential to good clinical governance.
  • Ensures essential learning for the whole dental team.
  • Legislation and good practice guidelines
  • Confirms generalist skills for dentists with a special interest.
  • Provides essential knowledge for dentists working towards the MFGDP(UK) examination.
  • Gives the participant a certificate of completion with seven hours of verifiable CPD.

Society is increasingly litigious and good record keeping makes a huge contribution to quality patient care as well as providing potentially vital evidence of discussions, explanations and clinical care and treatment provided.

The programme starts by explaining the nature and fallability of memory, and why we need to keep records that can compensate for these deficiencies. Judges and tribunals alike will often be persuaded by the word of the patient if there is any doubt over the facts of a case, on the premise that the patient is likely to recall the experience with more certainty than the dentist, who will have seen numerous patients on and since that particular day.

Comprehensive patient records can make the difference between success and failure in the event of a clinical audit, assessment of performance, complaint or legal action.

'On the Record' explores and demonstrates where, why and how patient records fit into good dental practice, using an engaging mix of theory, concepts and practical examples. It aims to provide you and your team members with some new insights into the role of record keeping, and the advantages and risks of electronic vs paper records.

About This Programme

'On the Record' is a 60 minute interactive programme which takes a detailed look at record keeping in dentistry and demonstrates how comprehensive and accurate record keeping can:

  • Facilitate the monitoring and tracking of patient treatment
  • Improve patient-centred care and reduce risk
  • Provide a basis for professional development in practice
  • Be used to demonstrate and audit clinical performance.

The programme consists of five 10-15 minute topics:

  • Why Keep Records?
  • Principles of Record Keeping
  • Personalised Records
  • Records and the Dental Team
  • The Changing Face of Records

Topic 1: Why Keep Records?

This topic focuses on:

  • The purpose of record keeping
  • The nature of memory and its limitations
  • How good record keeping can improve patient care.

Topic 2: Principles of Record Keeping

This topic focuses on:

  • The requirements of a patient record
  • The importance of being able to track treatment and its effectiveness over time

The importance of patient records that are:

  • meaningful
  • intelligible
  • chronological
  • contemporaneous

Topic 3: Personalised Records

This topic focuses on:

  • The content of the patient record – both clinical and non-clinical
  • How it will differ according to the individual patient and the treatment being provided
  • How the context of an interaction influences the necessary content of a record
  • The evolving and changing nature of record keeping

Topic 4: Records and the Dental Team

This topic focuses on:

  • The implications and limitations of single authorship of patient records and how these can be overcome
  • The advantages of delegating record authorship to other members of the dental team
  • How all members of the dental team can be integrated into the record keeping process

Topic 5: The Changing Face of Records

This topic focuses on:

  • The relative advantages and limitations of patient records in their various formats
  • The role of records in clinical audit
  • Confidentiality and data protection
  • The dangers of falsified records

This 2-hour programme aims to offer an extensive oral cancer learning resource for healthcare professionals.

On completing the programme you will be:

  • Up to date on current oral cancer epidemiology
  • Aware of the importance of routine opportunistic screening for oral cancer and the unique role that
  • Able to identify patients at particular risk and provide appropriate advice
  • Able to identify suspicious lesions
  • Aware of the appropriate referral procedure
  • Confident in communicating concerns to patients
  • Better able to understand the disease from a patient''s perspective
  • Able to comprehend the outcome following referral to a specialist

The programme comprises four topics, with each split into further sub-sessions.

Topic 1: The facts

This topic provides a background into the incidence, causes and development of oral cancer – this will aid your understanding of the contributing risk factors and mechanics of the disease. The sessions are broken down into:

  • Session 1: Epidemiology
  • Session 2: Risk Factors
  • Session 3: Pathogenesis

Topic 2: Team Approach

This topic looks at all aspects of communication both within the team and with the patient. Your role in providing advice and supporting the patient will be explored with the emphasis on:

  • Session 1: Raising Awareness
  • Session 2: Communication
  • Session 3: Referral

Treatment Topic 3:

Screening Examination Practical advice on improving your opportunistic screening procedure is imparted in this topic. The sub-sessions focus on:

  • Session 1: Risk Factor Assessment
  • Session 2: The Examination Procedure
  • Session 3: Examination Aids

Topic 4: Case Studies

The final topic provides a much needed insight into first hand experiences of examining, making referrals and living with oral cancer:

  • Session 1: Team Stories
  • Session 2: The patient’s story professionals play in early detection

Clinical photographs are an invaluable part of any risk management toolkit and they help to take clinical record keeping to a new level. In many cases they capture information in a way which no other type of record can replace, and add a special dimension of quality and depth to the information being recorded in a way which makes excellent use of time, effort and money.

Smile-on Ltd, in conjunction with Dr Christopher Orr and the support of Dental Protection Ltd, have developed this interactive learning programme to give all dental practitioners the knowledge and skills to create consistent and high quality clinical photographs.

Photographic records are necessary if we are to measure and track changes over time. Orthodontics, periodontal treatment and the screening of unusual oral and facial lesions are just here examples of situations where the value of monitoring the appearance of the soft tissues is self evident.

Clinical Photography covers:

  • How a camera functions
  • The role of the camera in dentistry
  • Unbiased selection and setup of digital camera equipment
  • How to use a digital camera in clinical situations
  • The view sets required for any new patient consultations, or consistent record keeping for cosmetic dentistry, facial aesthetics, laboratory work, orthodontics, orthognathic surgery, periodontology and prosthodontics.
  • The storage of digital images.

The benefits:

In all of these situations the addition of clinical photographs to one’s clinical records can improve the quality of patient care, facilitate clinical decision making, enhance communication and protect the dentist’s position medico-legally at the same time. Who can benefit:

  • Dentists
  • Vocational dental practitioners
  • Dental care professionals
  • Therapists and hygienists.

Call us now on +44 (0)20 7400 8989