Quality indicators: the rationale behind their use in NHS dentistry

Could the minimum intervention oral care framework help improve the quality of oral health delivery and access to NHS primary dental care?

Access to NHS primary dental care services is a perennial issue in the UK. Two aspects must be considered when measuring access to dental care: 'entry access', which relates to service availability resulting in realised initial or continued access; and 'effective access', the delivery of effective, equitable and efficient care, which manifests as equitable and optimal outcomes of care. It is proposed that the minimum intervention oral care (MIOC) delivery framework provides a person-focused, prevention-based, susceptibility/needs-related, team-delivered approach to ensuring effective access to primary oral and dental care. A theory of change model could identify the key barriers to overcome the implementation of the MIOC approach, involving all key stakeholders in primary oral and dental care delivery.

A Systematic Literature Review of Quality Management Initiatives in Dental Clinics

By considering the recently proposed definitions and metrics, oral healthcare quality management (OHQM) emerges as a distinct field in the wider healthcare area. The goal of this paper is to systematically review quality management initiatives (QMIs) implementation by dental clinics. The research methodology approach is a review of 72 sources that have been analyzed using the Context-Intervention-Mechanism-Outcome Framework (CIMO). The analysis identifies five mechanisms that explain how quality management initiatives are implemented by dental clinics. The simplest QMIs implementations are related to (1) overall quality. The next ones, in terms of complexity, are related to (2) patient satisfaction, (3) service quality, (4) internal processes improvement, and (5) business outcomes. This paper is the first attempt to provide a critical review of this topic and represents an important advancement by providing a theoretical framework that explains how quality management is implemented by practitioners in this field. The results can be used by scholars for advancing their studies related to this emerging research area and by healthcare managers in order to better implement their quality management initiatives.

Significance of Patient Safety and Safety Culture in Dental Schools: A Systematic Review

Objectives:

This article aims to systematically review and analyze the outcome of published literature on patient safety and safety culture related to dental schools. It also aims to observe implemented changes in dental school training and curriculum that have improved patient safety and safety culture within institutions.

Methods:

All studies concerning patient safety and safety culture from the period of January 2010 to May 2020 were included which were specific to dental educational institution settings. The assessment was based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) checklist to ascertain that the included studies were specific to the objective of our systematic review.

Results:

The included studies were assessed for country-wise publication, type of study, and its outcome. Of the 10 studies that met the inclusion criteria, 5 articles were related to patient safety. 2 out of the 5 articles were from the United States of America (USA) 2 were from the United Kingdom (UK), followed by 1 from Mexico. For articles related to safety culture, 3 out of the 5 articles were from Saudi Arabia, and 2 were from the USA.

Conclusion:

The analysis of the selected review articles suggests that rigorous training should be implemented in inpatient record documentation, incident reporting, and infection control protocols. The authors suggested focused training on patient safety culture and the inclusion of safety culture awareness and training to the dental undergraduate curriculum.

A systematic review of quality measures used in primary care dentistry

INTRODUCTION

'Quality' in primary care dentistry is poorly defined. There are significant international efforts focussed on developing quality measures within dentistry. The aim of this research was to identify measures used to assess quality in primary care dentistry and categorise them according to which dimensions of quality they attempt to measure.

METHODS

Quality measures were identified from the peer-reviewed and grey literature. Peer-reviewed papers describing the development and validation of measures were identified using a structured literature search. Measures from the grey literature were identified using structured searches and direct contact with dental providers and institutions. Quality measures were categorised according to domains of structure, process and outcome and by disaggregated dimensions of quality.

RESULTS

From 22 studies, 11 validated measure sets (comprising nine patient satisfaction surveys and two practice assessment instruments) were identified from the peer-reviewed literature. From the grey literature, 24 measure sets, comprising 357 individual measures, were identified. Of these, 96 addressed structure, 174 addressed process and 87 addressed outcome. Only three of these 24 measure sets demonstrated evidence of validity testing. The identified measures failed to address dimensions of quality, such as efficiency and equity.

CONCLUSIONS

There has been a proliferation in the development of dental quality measures in recent years. However, this development has not been guided by a clear understanding of the meaning of quality. Few existing measures have undergone rigorous validity or reliability testing. A consensus is needed to establish a definition of quality in dentistry. Identification of the important dimension of quality in dentistry will allow for the production of a core quality measurement set.

[Pay for performance in dental care: A systematic narrative review of quality P4P models in dental care]

BACKGROUND

Pay for performance (P4P) links reimbursement to the achievement of quality objectives. Experiences with P4P instruments and studies on their effects are available for the inpatient sector. A systematic narrative review brings together findings concerning the use and the effects of P4P, especially in dental care.

METHODS

A systematic literature search in PubMed and the Cochrane Library for reimbursement models using quality indicators provided 77 publications. Inclusion criteria were: year of publication not older than 2007, dental sector, models of quality-oriented remuneration, quality of care, quality indicators. 27 publications met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated with regard to the instruments and effects of P4P. The database search was supplemented by a free search on the Internet as well as a search in indicator databases and portals. The results of the included studies were extracted and summarized narratively.

RESULTS

27 studies were included in the review. Performance-oriented remuneration is an instrument of quality competition. In principle, P4P is embedded in an existing remuneration system, i.e., it does not occur in isolation. In the United States, England and Scandinavia, models are currently being tested for quality-oriented remuneration in dental care, based on quality indicators. The studies identified by the literature search are very heterogeneous and do not yield comparable endpoints. Difficulties are seen in the reproducibility of the quality of dental care with regard to certain characteristics which still have to be defined as quality-promoting properties. Risk selection cannot be ruled out, which may have an impact on structural quality (access to care, coordination).

CONCLUSION

There were no long-term effects of P4P on the quality of care. In the short and medium term, adverse effects on the participants' motivation as well as shifting effects towards the private sector are described. A prerequisite for the functioning of P4P is the definition of clear targets and measuring parameters. Furthermore, evidence-based quality indicators have to be developed that validly depict quality differences. It is yet unknown whether P4P will have long-term effects or whether the quality of dental care will increase.

Does the accreditation of private dental practices work? Time to rethink how accreditation can improve patient safety

Accreditation to demonstrate engagement with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (Standards) is compulsory for most hospital and healthcare settings, but to date remains voluntary for private dental practices (PDPs). The regulatory framework governing the dental profession lacks a proactive element to drive improvements in quality and safety of care, and an accreditation scheme can strengthen existing regulation. The current model of accreditation operating in accordance with the Australian Health Service Safety and Quality Accreditation Scheme (Scheme) is based on the Standards, which were written for a hospital model of healthcare service. The majority of PDPs are small office-based businesses with clear leadership structure and employing six staff or fewer. The Scheme is overly bureaucratic given the simplicity of the PDP business model. This article considers whether accreditation has a proven track record of improving quality of service and offers opinions about how a more appropriate safety management program for PDPs may look.

A person-centred Approach to holistic Assessment

Holistic assessment is an important aspect of providing high quality care focused on meeting a patient's individual needs. A holistic assessment should take into consideration the overall health of the patient, including their physical, psychological, social and spiritual wellbeing. This paper aims to clarify the meaning of 'holistic' in relation to dentistry and describes how this relates to treating the person as a whole, rather than be aligned to any particular treatment philosophy. The importance of a person-centred approach in undertaking a holistic assessment is highlighted. A brief overview of the relational aspects of person-centred care (PCC) is provided and it is suggested that four key dimensions of PCC should be considered as important factors in holistic assessment: connection, caring attitude, communication and control.

A qualitative evaluation of a pilot leadership programme for dentists

PURPOSE

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate a pilot training programme run by Health Education North West to promote clinical leadership amongst general dental practitioners (GDPs). New powers and responsibilities for clinicians have caused a fundamental shift in the way that local services are planned and delivered in England. GDPs are being appointed onto the boards of local professional networks (LPNs) to influence the way that services are delivered at a local level. Analogous to clinical commissioning groups in medicine, the role of LPNs is to ensure that GDPs lead change and drive up the quality of service provision. Clinical leadership has been argued to be fundamentally important in these new structures, but has received little attention in the dental literature.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were held with participants of the pilot to explore their understanding and experience of clinical leadership. These were recorded, transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis.

FINDINGS

Nineteen codes were identified and organized into four themes: nature of clinical leadership, challenges for clinical leaders in dentistry, Leadership Exploration and Discovery programme evaluation and future direction.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The research provides an understanding of how GDPs conceptualise clinical leadership and provides recommendations for future leadership training programmes.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This is the first evaluation of a leadership programme for GDPs and so helps address the paucity of evidence in the dental literature.

The development and piloting of a leadership questionnaire for general dental practitioners: preliminary results from the North West of England and Tokyo

OBJECTIVES

Key reforms in England and Japan have called for greater clinical leadership from general dental practitioners to deliver improvements in the quality of care for patients. In England, the reorganisation of the National Health Service has led to the development of Local Professional Networks to ensure services are clinically led, patient and outcome focused. In Japan, the rapidly changing demographics have led to calls for general dental practitioners to become more active in meeting the emerging population health challenges. Both require engagement at a strategic and a local level. However, little is known about what is meant by clinical leadership in dentistry or what training needs exist. The aim of this study was to develop and pilot a questionnaire to understand what general dental practitioners feel is important about clinical leadership and how they rate themselves.

METHODS

A 61-item questionnaire was developed from the literature, an earlier qualitative study and refined through cognitive interviews. Questionnaires were distributed to general dental practitioners across the North West of England and Tokyo, using random sequence generation. For each item, the participant had to record whether they thought the statement was an important component of clinical leadership and how they rated themselves. Both were rated using a seven-point Likert scale. Data reduction was undertaken using principal component analysis to examine for factor loadings within the questionnaire. Differences in mean scores were also used to highlight substantive differences in how general dental practitioners rated the different components of leadership and how they rated themselves.

RESULTS

The response rate for the pilot was low (22.9% and 7.5% for North West and Tokyo respectively). The items that were considered to be important in leadership reduced to two components in the North West (accounting for 62.1% of the total variance): 'How to lead' and 'How not to lead'. In Tokyo, 56.4% of the total variance was explained by three components: 'Demonstrating personal qualities', 'Working with others' and 'How not to lead'. When the self-rated items were reduced, three factors were found to be important in the North West: 'Working with others', 'Setting direction' and 'Managing services' (55.1% of the variance). 'Working with others', 'Demonstrating personal qualities', 'Pragmatism', 'Setting direction' and 'Improving services' were found to be important in Tokyo (52.8% of the variance). The questionnaire items relating to integrity, team-working and having a positive attitude during difficult times were rated highly by both groups. Items relating to providing vision for team, being assertive and having a positive attitude had the greatest mean difference, suggesting possible areas of training need.

CONCLUSION

The nature of the pilot study and the poor response rate makes any conclusion difficult to infer. Among those that participated, leadership was understood to be more important at a practice level rather than at a strategic level. The questionnaire should be refined further based on the results of the pilot and the data reduction.

Factors affecting dental service quality

PURPOSE

Measuring dental clinic service quality is the first and most important factor in improving care. The quality provided plays an important role in patient satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting dental service quality from the patients' viewpoint.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted in a dental clinic in Tehran between January and June 2014. A sample of 385 patients was selected from two work shifts using stratified sampling proportional to size and simple random sampling methods. The data were collected, a self-administered questionnaire designed for the purpose of the study, based on the Parasuraman and Zeithaml's model of service quality which consisted of two parts: the patients' demographic characteristics and a 30-item questionnaire to measure the five dimensions of the service quality. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 21.0 and Amos 18.0 through some descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, as well as analytical methods, including confirmatory factor.

FINDINGS

Results showed that the correlation coefficients for all dimensions were higher than 0.5. In this model, assurance (regression weight=0.99) and tangibility (regression weight=0.86) had, respectively, the highest and lowest effects on dental service quality.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The Parasuraman and Zeithaml's model is suitable to measure quality in dental services. The variables related to dental services quality have been made according to the model.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This is a pioneering study that uses Parasuraman and Zeithaml's model and CFA in a dental setting. This study provides useful insights and guidance for dental service quality assurance.

How do we improve quality in primary dental care?

Quality improvement differs from quality assurance (which is retrospective in nature) in that it attempts to use a quality assessment cycle and focuses on the organisation or system of production as a whole. In this paper, the third in a series of three published in this Journal, we discuss the concept and evidence base of quality improvement, the main approaches that have been used in other healthcare settings and the importance of a multi-faceted strategy to address this issue. These topics are then related to the context of primary dental care and the way dentistry currently addresses quality improvement. Finally, we set out an agenda and provide recommendations for a system-based quality improvement strategy for primary dental care and identify the likely barriers and facilitators for this approach.

The Polisemy of Clinical Governance: a review of literature

The article aims to explore the concept of clinical management, with a view towards understanding the diverse meanings that could be attributed to that expression. This discussion can contribute to the planning and organization of health services geared to the management of clinical practices, as well as to set forth principles to draft actions in that field. Methodologically, the study consists of a qualitative literature review, using keywords of the Virtual Health Library (VHL). In terms of results, seven topics stand out that synthesize the analysis of sources: management, quality promotion, clinical monitoring or auditing, education, responsibility or accountability, safety in care and a systemic dimension. The conclusion is that the variation of meanings relates to the way in which the authors of the studies reviewed express or unfold the structuring conceptual components broadly accepted as clinical governance. What we observe is a lack of a greater focus on discussions regarding planning and policies relating to clinical governance.

Learning from contract change in primary care dentistry: A qualitative study of stakeholders in the north of England

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Commissioners’ ability to reallocate resources between contracts is constrained.

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Patients are unclear about the costs of dental treatment and the NHS charge bands.

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Dentists dislike the target-based approach involving units of dental activity.

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Disease prevention is not adequately rewarded under the current dental contract.

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The quality of dental care provided by dentists should be measured and rewarded.

The aim of this research was to explore and synthesise learning from stakeholders (NHS dentists, commissioners and patients) approximately five years on from the introduction of a new NHS dental contract in England. The case study involved a purposive sample of stakeholders associated with a former NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the north of England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 commissioners of NHS dental services and 5 NHS general dental practitioners. Three focus group meetings were held with 14 NHS dental patients. All focus groups and interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using a framework approach. Four themes were identified: ‘commissioners’ views of managing local NHS dental services’; ‘the risks of commissioning for patient access’; ‘costs, contract currency and commissioning constraints’; and ‘local decision-making and future priorities’. Commissioners reported that much of their time was spent managing existing contracts rather than commissioning services. Patients were unclear about the NHS dental charge bands and dentists strongly criticised the contract's target-driven approach which was centred upon them generating ‘units of dental activity’. NHS commissioners remained relatively constrained in their abilities to reallocate dental resources amongst contracts. The national focus upon practitioners achieving their units of dental activity appeared to outweigh interest in the quality of dental care provided.

What do patients take into account when they choose their dentist? Implications for quality improvement

BACKGROUND

From dental care providers' perspective, it is vital to put efforts into improving the quality of services delivered. Therefore, the exploration of patients' satisfaction with dental services and their preferences with regard to the factors involved in their dental care choices should be one of the main areas of focus in a dental care office, by focusing on the quality management.

AIMS

The aim of this research was to determine the factors that patients consider important when choosing a dentist, and bring evidence on the importance of implementing a quality management system for dental care.

METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS

The data analysis was conducted on a national representative sample of patients who had visited a dentist at least once in the last 12 months, in Romania. Using a survey which explored patients' satisfaction with their dental care visits, data were collected between October and November 2012 with the help of computer-assisted telephone interviews. Information about socio-demographics, frequency of accessing dental care, factors associated with choosing a dentist, and the level of patients' satisfaction were collected.

RESULTS

Out of the 1,650 people who agreed to participate in the study, 724 respondents (43.8%) represented the sample who visited a dentist at least once in the last 12 months and whose responses were analyzed in this article. The majority of the respondents were satisfied with the quality of dental services received, with 85.91% of them rating their satisfaction with 5, on a scale from 1 to 5. According to a high majority of the patients (n=680, 93.92%), the communication with their dentist was extremely easy. The most frequently mentioned factors that respondents took into account when choosing a dentist were the dentist's competence (22.22%), the recommendation from someone known (20.56%), and the overall quality of the service provided (19.72%). Among the other factors mentioned were patience and respect.

CONCLUSION

The factors patients consider important when choosing a dentist are the dentist's competence, the recommendation from someone known, and the overall quality of the service provided, but interpersonal factors such as patience and respect are also valued. Our results are relevant for dental education providers, who should consider shaping their curricula as to ensure they train future dentists in a manner that will meet patients' expectations and increase patient satisfaction levels.

Effectiveness of a quality management program in dental care practices

Background

Structured quality management is an important aspect for improving patient dental care outcomes, but reliable evidence to validate effects is lacking. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of a quality management program in primary dental care settings in Germany.

Methods

This was an exploratory study with a before-after-design. 45 dental care practices that had completed the European Practice Assessment (EPA) accreditation scheme twice (intervention group) were selected for the study. The mean interval between the before and after assessment was 36 months. The comparison group comprised of 56 dental practices that had undergone their first assessment simultaneously with follow-up assessment in the intervention group. Aggregated scores for five EPA domains: ‘infrastructure’, ‘information’, ‘finance’, ‘quality and safety’ and ‘people’ were calculated.

Results

In the intervention group, small non-significant improvements were found in the EPA domains. At follow-up, the intervention group had higher scores on EPA domains as compared with the comparison group (range of differences was 4.2 to 10.8 across domains). These differences were all significant in regression analyses, which controlled for relevant dental practice characteristics.

Conclusions

Dental care practices that implemented a quality management program had better organizational quality in contrast to a comparison group. This may reflect both improvements in the intervention group and a selection effect of dental practices volunteering for the first round of EPA practice assessment.

Cultural differences in clinical leadership: a qualitative study comparing the attitudes of general dental practitioners from Greater Manchester and Tokyo

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Leadership has been argued to be a key component in the transformation of services in the United Kingdom and in Japan. In the UK, local professional networks have developed to provide clinician led care in dentistry; working to develop local plans to deliver improvements in the quality of care for patients. In Japan, the remuneration model for dental care has been revised with the aim to improve the service and tackle the current challenges of population health there. The aim of this study was to use semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore general dental practitioners' (GDPs) understanding of the term 'leadership' and determine whether its meaning is culturally bound.

METHODS

Twelve participants were sampled purposively by the research team; identifying GDPs involved in leadership roles from across Greater Manchester and Tokyo. A set of open-ended questions was developed for semi-structured interviews a priori and the interviews continued until saturation. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and codes were developed into a coding frame for thematic analysis. Representative quotations are provided in the results.

RESULTS

Fourteen codes were identified according to the aims of the study and organised into five overarching themes. 'Leadership as the relationship' was more pronounced among Japanese GDPs, while 'leadership as the individual' was common in GDPs from Greater Manchester. Differences were also found in respect of education and training in leadership. Training was also considered to be important by the GDPs from Japan, while UK GDPs felt leaders were more likely to be influenced by innate qualities. The interdependence of leadership and entrepreneurship was raised by both sets of GDPs.

CONCLUSION

The concept of leadership was considered to be important by GDPs from both Greater Manchester and Tokyo; leadership was seen as providing strategy and direction for a clinical team. However, cultural influences were evident in how this was conceptualised.

The entrepreneurial role in primary care dentistry

This paper explores the entrepreneurial role of dentists in primary care dentistry. It reviews the changing context of dentistry, not least the reforms being introduced by the health and social care bill. It suggests that this new context will reinforce the need to consider the business side of dental practice, in particular, the importance of quality, creativity and innovation, alongside the importance of meeting the needs of patients. An entrepreneurial approach will be required in order to sustain dental practice in an increasingly competitive environment.