[Dentists and mutual practice visitation. Results of a descriptive study on the effects on mutual visitation by dentists].

In 1998 mutual practice visitation has been introduced in the Dutch dental practice as a method to improve quality of dental care. The method is called 'mutual visitation' because groups of three dentists visit and evaluate each others practices. An independent research institute (Nivel) investigated the perceived effects, advantages and barriers of visitation. A postal questionnaire was sent to all 235 dentists who, by that time, participated in visitation. The response was 57%. The results showed that the effects reported most frequently were: a more critical attitude to dental practice, more insight into practices of colleagues and actual improvements in dental care. The majority of the respondents considered visitation suitable to improve practice-organization. A minority considered visitation suitable to increase professional expertise. The mutuality of the visitation was highly valued by the participants. The main disadvantage of visitation appeared to be the time investment (a mean of three days per dentist). In general, the respondents held the view that the positive effects outweighed the time and efforts, however, many dentists regretted the lack of financial compensation for visitation.