How to Survive Dental Performance Difficulties offers an authoritative guide for successfully navigating and overcoming dental performance issues.
- Offers a practical guide for preventing and overcoming dental performance issues
- Highlights case studies of dental professionals who have direct experience of being referred for fitness to practise issues
- Includes information on the support available to dental professionals, the requirements that need to be met, and how to meet them
- Contains information on the effective use of evidence, improvement practice tools such as personal development plans, continuing professional education, reflective diaries, and audits
- Offers guidance on how to increase self-awareness and insight
Table of Contents
Foreword, ix
Acknowledgements, xi
Abbreviations, xiii
Chapter 1 The basics of performance, 1
Introduction, 1
What is performance? 3
What is poor performance? 6
Fitness to practise, 9
Red door/green door, 10
Chapter 2 Background and contributory factors: How performance issues can arise, 13
Introduction, 13
Pressures on dentists, 14
Factors that underpin poor performance, 15
Chapter 3 Professionalism, 27
What is professionalism? 27
What does professionalism encompass? 30
How should a professional behave? 30
Societal expectations of professionals, 31
Character, 32
Building blocks of character, 33
Ethical frameworks within which professionals operate, 34
How does character relate to professionalism? 36
Tests of integrity, 36
Virtue ethics, 37
Honesty and dishonesty, 38
Communication, 42
Criminal record, convictions and cautions, 43
Scotland, 45
Protected conviction or caution, 45
Chapter 4 Regulation of dentistry and dental professionals, 48
Regulation, 48
General Medical Council, 49
General Pharmaceutical Council, 50
General Dental Council, 50
Registration, 51
NHS England, 52
Care Quality Commission, 53
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, 54
Scotland, 54
Northern Ireland, 55
Professional Standards Authority, 56
Regulation of Dental Services Programme Board, 57
Health and Safety Executive, 58
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, 59
Right‐touch regulation, 60
Chapter 5 Organisations that play a supporting role, 63
Specialist indemnity providers, 63
Educational support, 64
Health support, 67
Mentoring/professional support, 68
Advisory support, 69
Conclusion, 70
Chapter 6 The anatomy of a fitness to practise case, 72
Introduction, 72
Fitness to practise, 74
General Dental Council, 74
Fitness to practise process, 75
Interim Orders Committee, 77
Investigating Committee, 77
Practice Committees, 78
Sanctions, 78
Convictions/cautions, 82
Analysis, 83
Erasure, 86
Conclusion, 91
Chapter 7 The registrant’s journey, personal statements and case studies, 93
How it can begin, 94
The Hero’s Journey, 95
Case studies, 101
Stages of change or grief, 111
Taking a preventive approach, 113
Chapter 8 Building self‐awareness and insight, 115
Self‐awareness, 116
Insight, 116
Learning styles, 119
Tools to deepen self‐awareness, 124
Conclusion, 138
Chapter 9 Tools that can help, 140
Personal development plan, 141
Peer review, 144
Professional discussion and dialogue, 144
Case studies and presentations, 145
Clinical audit, 146
Staff meetings, 148
Patient surveys (feedback), 148
360° multisource feedback, 150
Standards, national guidelines, 151
Working with a mentor, 151
Working with a coach, 152
Appendix A Personal development plan template, 154
Appendix B Patient engagement questionnaire, 156
Appendix C Influencing skills questionnaire – 360° colleague feedback, 157
Chapter 10 Supporting colleagues who struggle, 160
Being non‐judgemental, 160
Listening, 160
Paraphrasing, 161
Questioning, 161
Guiding, 161
Reflective practice/writing and learning, 161
Working one to one, 172
Force field analysis, 176
Neurological levels, 177
Conclusion, 181
Index, 183
