Ordell Sven, Unell Lennart, Söderfeldt Björn
Department of Oral Public Health, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Swed Dent J. 2006;30(4):155-64.
Dentistry in Sweden is predicted to have a shortage of dentists in the future and the division of labour within dentistry will be a more debated question. In order to forecast the effects of such a shortage the professional status of the involved groups must be made clearer. The objective of this paper is to analyse the emergence and present professional status of clinical dental professions in Sweden. The study was conducted on the basis of theories on professions, and their roles in organizations was analysed. The results were applied on the historical emergence, establishment and consolidation of clinical dental professions in Sweden. The results show that a large sector of salaried dentists has not diminished the professional status of the Swedish dentists. Professional ambitions such as many clinical subspecialties and a strong element of research have not been restrained by the public health ambitions in the Public Dental Health Service (PDHS). Presently, other dental professions are dental hygienists, dental technicians and dental nurses. Of these the only other licensed group, the dental hygienists, are an emerging profession. They have an uphill struggle to obtain a full professional status, mainly because their knowledge domains are neither specific nor exclusive to their group. Development of a common core curriculum on a clearly academic level would enhance their professional status. Dental technicians and nurses are lacking fundamental traits as professions. There appears to be little need for additional groups of clinical professions besides dentists and dental hygienists in Swedish dentistry. In conclusion,this analysis provided better understanding of the present status of the Swedish dental professions, to prepare for future restructuring of the dental care system. Further work will be needed to understand the impact of professional traits on the management of groups of professionals.
预计瑞典未来将出现牙医短缺的情况，牙科内部的劳动分工也将成为一个更具争议性的问题。为了预测这种短缺的影响，必须更明确相关群体的职业地位。本文的目的是分析瑞典临床牙科职业的出现及其当前的职业地位。该研究基于职业理论进行，分析了它们在组织中的作用。研究结果应用于瑞典临床牙科职业的历史出现、确立和巩固过程。结果表明，很大一部分受薪牙医并没有降低瑞典牙医的职业地位。诸如众多临床亚专业和强大的研究元素等职业抱负并未受到公共牙科保健服务（PDHS）中的公共卫生抱负的限制。目前，其他牙科职业包括牙科保健员、牙科技师和牙科护士。其中，唯一获得许可的另一群体——牙科保健员，是一个新兴职业。他们要获得完全的职业地位面临着艰难的斗争，主要是因为他们的知识领域既不特定于也不专属其群体。在明确的学术层面制定共同核心课程将提升他们的职业地位。牙科技师和护士缺乏作为职业的基本特征。在瑞典牙科领域，除了牙医和牙科保健员外，似乎几乎不需要额外的临床职业群体。总之，该分析有助于更好地理解瑞典牙科职业的现状，为未来牙科护理系统的重组做好准备。还需要进一步开展工作来了解职业特征对专业人员群体管理产生的影响。
