A study to explore if dentists' anxiety affects their clinical decision-making

Chipchase, Susan; Chapman, Helen; Bretherton, Roger

doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.173

Cited by 46 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…This model is described in some detail elsewhere with regards to dentistry. 19 Previous research 19 has found that self-reported anxiety in response to typical dental stressors is significantly related to hypervigilant and avoidant decisionmaking and burnout. This would suggest that reductions in the chronic stress experienced by dentists should reduce unhelpful styles of decision-making and could reduce vulnerability to burnout.…”

Section: Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What there is suggests that stress affects performance in surgeons (in particular during highly stressful laparoscopic procedures); that experienced surgeons experience less stress and are consequently less impaired, and that stress impairs surgeons' non-technical skills such as decision-making and communication skills. A recent study 19 of primary care dentists found that an increased sense of PA and increased levels of EE and DP were related to higher levels of self-reported anxiety in clinical situations suggesting that reducing burnout improves decision-making and thus should improve patient outcomes.…”

Section: Burnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building on the knowledge gained from previous studies, 1,2,19,37 this research aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a bespoke CPD package (in both self-help and guided self-help formats) which was designed to improve coping skills and resilience and thereby 1. reduce participant burnout; 2. reduce the impact of anxiety on dentists' clinical decision-making and 3. improve decision-making style.…”

Section: Study Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 A total of 57 dentists volunteered; 7 were recruited to the pilot study 20 were recruited to the self-help group, receiving the self-help material only; 10 were recruited to a guided self-help package based in Lincoln and 10 in Nottingham. Ten participants were chosen for each guided self-help package as this was considered to be the maximum number with which a group session could successfully be conducted.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Details of the subscales with dental examples are decribed elsewhere. 19 Dealing with Uncertainty Questionnaire (DUQ) 72 -This was developed to measure the impact of uncertainty on the decision-making process of general medical practitioners. It consists of 2 subscales; 1. a six item diagnostic action scale and 2. a six item diagnostic reasoning scale It is scored on a six point Likert scale anchored 'strongly agree' and 'strongly disagree.…”

Section: Melbourne Decision-making Questionnaire (Mdmq)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The evaluation of a continuing professional development package for primary care dentists designed to reduce stress, build resilience and improve clinical decision-making

2017

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Introduction: Stress and burnout are widely accepted as a problem for primary care dental practitioners. Previous programmes to address this issue have met with some success. Burnout is associated with poor coping skills and emotion regulation, and increased rates of clinical errors. Anxiety is associated with poor decision-making and is thought to be associated with poor clinical decision-making. Attempts to improve decision-making use increasing meta-awareness and review of thinking processes. Bibliotherapy is an effective method of delivering cognitive behavioural therapy as self-help or guided self-help (with some therapist input) formats. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a specially designed CPD package which was designed to improve coping skills, build resilience and reduce the impact of anxiety on dentists' clinical decision-making. Design: A multi-centred quasi-experiment Setting: Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire (England) 2014 Materials and methods: Thirty-five volunteer primary care dentists used two versions (selfhelp [SH] and guided self-help [GSH], which included a 3 hour workshop) of a specially written cognitive-behavioural-therapy bibliotherapy programme designed to improve wellbeing and decision-making. Main Outcome Measures:The main outcome measures were dentists' burnout, depression, anxiety, stress and decision-making style. Data were also collected on use and evaluation of the programme. Results: At 6 weeks there was a clinically and statistically significant reduction in depression, anxiety and stress levels, a statistically significant reduction in burnout (emotional exhaustion) and hypervigilant decision-making and an increase in personal achievement (burnout). The improvements in depression, stress, emotional exhaustion and hypervigilant decision-making were maintained at 6 months. Dentists were overwhelmingly positive in their evaluation of the project and used most of its contents. Conclusion: With the caveat of small numbers and the lack of a no-treatment control, this project demonstrated that a self-help package can be highly acceptable to dentists and, in the short-to-medium term, improve dentists' well-being and decision-making with implications for patient safety.

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Section: Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Burnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%