Training needs analysis

Delivery of postgraduate dental education to meet the needs of general dental practice — A case study

In order for dental practices to gain the maximum benefit from an educational opportunity such as a course or workshop, it is important that the training received meets the needs of these practices and is delivered appropriately. This paper provides an account of an educational initiative undertaken within the Eastern deanery in 2003 and 2004, 'Essex Promoting Infection Control' (EPIC), which set out to establish training needs in infection control within general dental practices across Essex and then to design and deliver learning events to meet these needs.

Clinical Governance. What is it and how can it be Delivered in Dental Practices?

This paper describes how a Scottish general dental practitioner carried out a literature search to inform his teaching on the topic of clinical governance in general dental practice. He found relatively few publications on the topic, most of which were descriptive rather than reports of scientific studies. Nevertheless, he has used the results of the literature search to inform his teaching. His opinion on what clinical governance is and how it can be introduced follows a brief description of the literature search.

Learning throughout life: can a progress file help?

Modern dentistry demands continuous professional development. This paper reports part of a project to develop a lifelong learning tool known as a progress file for members of the dental team.

AIM

To elucidate the views of dentists (as employers/managers) and dental therapists (as employees) on the potential use at work of a progress file. To obtain feedback from these groups on a prototype progress file for dental therapists.

METHOD

Consultations were conducted with an opportunistic sample of 15 dentists and 32 dental therapists. Twenty eight dental therapists trialled the prototype for 6 months and 15 dentists appraised it. Opinion was obtained through interview and questionnaire, yielding largely qualitative data, which was content-analysed.

FINDINGS

Both dentists and therapists were positively disposed towards a progress file at work but considered its success conditional upon factors including input from the team leader and rewarding dentists for time spent on supporting file users. Evaluation of the prototype was mainly positive. Trial data bore out many impressions from the consultations.

CONCLUSION

A progress file that addresses the needs of both employers and employees has potential to help all members of the dental team meet the demands of lifelong learning.