Dental skill mix
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Optimising skill mix in dentistry: dental therapists, direct access and the future.
IRAS ID
190226
Contact name
Alison Lock
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Aneurin Bevan UHB
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
The problem
Urgent action is required to address problems arising from an ageing population retaining their teeth, high levels of avoidable tooth decay in children and poor access to NHS dental services in parts of Wales.When staff ‘only do what only they can do’ we say that the skill-mix of that team is optimised. Dental therapists (DTs) can apply sealants, do simple fillings, take out children’s teeth and screen for oral cancer. New arrangements mean that DTs can undertake their full scope of practice without patients seeing a dentist first. This is called ‘Direct Access’ (DA). We have no evidence about the impact of DA or how to optimise the skill-mix so that we get the best service.
Aims
Our aim is to better understand how to make the best use of the dental team. We will find out what works, why and in what circumstance. We will develop practical training courses and a self-evaluation tool to help dental practices work out how ready they are for skill-mix changes and set action plans.Study Design and Methods
We will use a case study design within a “realist” approach. We will collect 1350 patient records and questionnaires from 6 dental practices (3 with and 3 without a DT) in three Health Boards and interview the dental team. We will use these data to test and refine our theory about skill-mix optimisation.We will develop a self-evaluation tool to help practices review their skill-mix. We will pilot this with 30 practices. We will also develop, run and evaluate two courses – one for dentists, one for DTs. These will be held in two centres in Wales. To evaluate the courses we will collect participant data from questionnaires issued before the training, immediately after and later.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0113
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jan 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion