An Analysis of Patient Grievances in a Dental School Clinical Environment

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is an integral part of assessing the quality of oral health care. As dental care becomes more impersonal, competitive, and expensive, the potential for patient complaints is on the rise. Dental school clinics may be more vulnerable to patient grievances due to inexperienced student providers, less eficient delivery of care, challenges related to continuity of care, and the complexity of adhering to institutional policies. Effective management of patient complaints can assist both individuals and institutions toward providing the highest quality of care achievable in the demanding dental education environment. Despite the obvious beneit, there is a dearth of recent studies that analyzed complaints in either the private practice setting or dental school clinics. The purpose of this study was to categorize and analyze the complaints received from patients seeking treatment at a large dental school clinic from 2005 to 2008. It was found that the combined complaints for all four years in descending order were regarding appointment, communication, money, quality, and other. No statistically signiicant association was found between the type of complaint and time of year. Most importantly, it was found that the system for recording complaints needed to be standardized in order to improve the quality of patient care. The indings from this study will not only facilitate adjustment of the school's current curricula and policies, but could also guide other institutions and private dental practitioners toward better patient care.

Patients’ Perceptions of Dehumanization of Patients in Dental School Settings: Implications for Clinic Management and Curriculum Planning

“…In that study, some students felt that procedures were done for the sake of requirements, without looking at the patient holistically. A potential strategy to better engage patients in treatment is to assign them to student teams rather than an individual student 29 . Such a system allows fourth‐year students to complete more difficult procedures and ensures that third‐year students are involved in treating the patient and patients do not have to repeat their personal history again from year to year.…”

Soft skills and dental education

“…The ability to communicate with patients, listen, be observant and respond to patients' needs, empathise, understand and carry out consultations in an organised and professional manner are considered as basic requirements of a competent dentist . Patient complaints regarding dental appointments have commonly included communication problems with their dentist . Effective communication could further aid and hasten the diagnostic process and decision‐making and enhance patient–clinician understanding .…”

Dental Students’ Reflections on Quality of Periodontal Care in Dental School Clinics

“…The third most reported (34.9%) reason reported by the DS group in our study for not providing adequate periodontal care was an institutional factor: that multiple providers are involved in patient care. Sachdeo et al found that a majority of patient grievances in a dental school clinic were related to continuity of care issues resulting from students’ graduation and the transfers thereafter 11 . They proposed a Vertical Integration Protocol as a remedy for this problem, by which a patient is coassigned to students in different years of training from the first to fourth years.…”