Reeson M G, Jepson N J A
Department of Prosthodontics, The Dental Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE2 4A2, UK.
Br Dent J. 2005 May 28;198(10):642-5; quiz 648. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4812354.
Improving communication and collaboration between members of the dental team is important to the long term aim of improving the quality of dental care for patients. For example, closer integration between trainee dental technicians and undergraduate dental students during their courses of training should both help to develop their own skills and foster an improved level of communication and understanding between these members of the dental team. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the number of dental teaching hospitals in Great Britain and Ireland currently involved with the training of dental technicians, and to find out how many of these bring trainee technician and undergraduate dental students together at some time during training as a matter of policy.
Action research was carried out in the form of a linking exercise in the Newcastle upon Tyne Dental Hospital. This involved second year trainee dental technicians and third year undergraduate dental students working together to provide complete dentures for a patient within the formal undergraduate course in complete denture construction. The trainee technicians also attended a series of lectures relevant to this course alongside undergraduate dental students.
The main findings revealed that although a number of dental teaching hospitals were involved with the training of dental technicians and had encouraged links between undergraduate dental students and trainee technicians, few had formalised these links in any way.
The outcomes of the linking exercise were evaluated by means of focus groups, observations and semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that both the trainee dental technician and the undergraduate dental student benefited to some extent from closer collaboration during training.
改善牙科团队成员之间的沟通与协作对于提高患者牙科护理质量这一长期目标至关重要。例如，实习牙科技师与牙科本科生在培训课程期间更紧密的融合，既有助于培养他们自身的技能，也能促进牙科团队这些成员之间沟通与理解水平的提高。本研究的目的是确定英国和爱尔兰目前参与牙科技师培训的牙科教学医院数量，并查明其中有多少家将实习技师和牙科本科生在培训期间的某个时间作为一项政策安排在一起。
在泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔牙科医院以一种联系活动的形式开展行动研究。这涉及二年级实习牙科技师和三年级牙科本科生共同努力，在全口义齿制作的正规本科课程内为一名患者制作全口义齿。实习技师还与牙科本科生一起参加了一系列与该课程相关的讲座。
主要研究结果表明，尽管一些牙科教学医院参与了牙科技师的培训，并鼓励牙科本科生与实习技师之间建立联系，但很少有医院以任何方式将这些联系正式化。
通过焦点小组、观察和半结构化访谈对联系活动的结果进行了评估。结果表明，实习牙科技师和牙科本科生在培训期间通过更紧密的协作在一定程度上都有所受益。
