It is imperative that dentists act with integrity and always do what is in the best interest of their patients. In situations with colleagues, it is important that you remain calm and think of the consequences of your actions. A key part of professionalism is reflecting on what has happened and learning how you can learn from this and make improvements.
As a healthcare professional, you may find yourself in challenging situations from time to time. Some of these scenarios are illustrated by the examples below and have been provided to us exclusively from Dental Training Consultants. A link to the answers can be found at the bottom of this page.
Question 1:
Your nurse has been practicing for 15 years and tells you she is not registered with the GDC.
Rank in order the following actions in response to this situation (A = most appropriate; E = least appropriate).
A. Explain the implications of her disclosure, encouraging her to register immediately.
B. Call your educational supervisor immediately and force the nurse to confess.
C. Speak to the practice principal immediately, explaining the situation.
D. Log the nurse’s confession and watch her closely.
E. Dismiss her confession.
Question 2:
You are seeing a patient for a routine extraction of a retained root. As you extract the root, the crown on the adjacent tooth falls off. What do you do?
Rank in order the following actions in response to this situation (A = most appropriate; E = least appropriate).
A. Inform the patient immediately of what has happened, reminding him that this was one of the possible risks discussed during consent.
B. Give the patient postoperative instructions, and ask him to come in and see you tomorrow to recement the crown.
C. Throw the crown away - the patient will never know.
D. Speak to your nurse and tell her to mix cement quickly and recement whilst the patient is numb as she will not realize.
E. Call your educational supervisor to come and help you explain this bad news to the patient.
Question 3:
After the busy Christmas and New Year period, you find yourself very much behind with your ePDP. January is generally an extremely busy time and you are finding yourself stressed at how many patients you are seeing. The clinical and coursework load is getting too much for you to handle. What do you do?
Choose the three most appropriate answers when all of the answers are considered together.
A. Speak to your educational supervisor as soon as possible to tell him your issues and ask if time can be allocated for administrative work rather than clinical time.
B. Try to manage for as long as you can until your work starts affecting your patients.
C. Bring up your concern at a practice meeting, stating that reception staff are booking too many patients in for everyone.
D. Make a plan for the month to get back on track using evenings and weekends to do administrative work. Show this to your educational supervisor for advice.
E. Ignore the ePDP for now. You can do it at the end of the month – all weekend if need be.
F. Speak to your personal TPD for advice on how you are feeling, suggesting he speak to your educational supervisor.
G. Speak to your colleagues, complaining all the way.
H. Tell your nurse that your New Year’s resolution is to become more organized.
Question 4:
You notice that your nurse and receptionist are not getting on well and it has started to affect the atmosphere in the practice.
Choose the three most appropriate answers when all of the answers are considered together.
A. Tell them to grow up and behave.
B. Speak to them individually and tell them that you will send them each a disciplinary letter if their behaviour does not improve.
C. Keep them far away from each other at every possible opportunity.
D. Suggest a team-building day to your practice manager.
E. Suggest a meeting so that issues can be discussed openly and try to resolve the issues.
F. Inform your practice manager and ask her to intervene.
G. Recommend a psychotherapist.
H. Call your indemnity provider for advice.
Question 5:
You are required to attend a postgraduate study day on a Friday as part of your DFT course. Your educational supervisor has asked you to work this coming Friday as he is short-staffed.
Choose the three most appropriate answers when all of the answers are considered together.
A. Explain that the postgraduate day is mandatory and you are required to attend.
B. Get a friend to sign the attendance register and work on the day.
C. Agree that the practice comes first and stay.
D. Speak to your educational supervisor for advice and guidance.
E. Make sure that reception blocks off your appointment book and clearly marks that it is a postgraduate study day.
F. Discuss with your other postgraduate colleagues.
G. Call your indemnity for advice.
H. Tell your educational supervisor that he is breaking the law.
To find out how you scored.
Practice questions and answers correct at time of publication.