|
|
Key Points
- Populations with low incomes
frequently have high rates of oral disease, which means many clinic
patients may have urgent or emergent problems.
- Appointment scheduling
depends on the number of chairs and oral health professionals working
in a clinic.
- Missed
appointments negatively impact productivity, but the downtime resulting
from them can be minimized by maintaining a list of patients who
have indicated that they are available on short notice for appointments.
- Emergencies
such as toothaches or broken fillings are common among clinic patients.
- Once
a dentist begins treating a patient, the dentist may not cease
providing treatment without potentially incurring liability, except
under specific circumstances.
- Recall
appointments are used to foster continuity of care, detect new
problems, provide preventive services, and evaluate the effectiveness
of previous care.
- The Joint Commission defines
continuum of care as “matching an individual’s ongoing
needs with the appropriate level and type of medical, psychological,
health, or social care within an organization or across multiple organizations.”
- Informed
consent is a communication process whereby a patient (or, in the
case of minors, a parent, guardian, or other adult who has legal
authority to provide consent for medical treatment of a minor), with
the advice and support of an oral health professional, makes treatment
decisions.
- If
a patient refuses recommended treatment, the dentist should make
every reasonable effort to document that the patient understands
the risks that may arise from such refusal. This is the concept of
informed refusal.
- Unclear instructions following
treatment and post-operative complications are two common sources
of patient confusion and dissatisfaction.
- Clinic staff must provide
services in a manner that is culturally and linguistically appropriate,
which includes providing interpretation services when English is not
a patient’s
primary language.
|
BACK
