Dental outreach Continued »
experience gives them a better under- standing of what lies ahead. He said: “They get much more of a taste as to what it is like working in general practice. They get to experience the whole range of treatment that a general practitioner would be expected to provide and in the safe environment of a supervised clinic. They are free to carry out their treatment but they know that if they have to ask questions, or things go wrong then they have a safety net.” His fellow tutor at the North West Kilmarnock Area Centre, James McCall, added: “I think they get a more realistic picture of what things are like when they are out in practice. They get to bring all the individual elements that they learn in the hospital together, in order to treat patients in a more holistic manner. I think it is quite good preparation for them going into VT.”
“These guys are young, enthusiastic, keen to learn and they are also learning the latest techniques and devel- opments in materials from the dental hospital, which we are then required to know about in order to teach them. So it keeps us on our toes”
Donald and James currently have four
Glasgow students on placement at the centre, each seeing up to five patients a day. Final year student Viraj Patel, 23, explained how he was enjoying his time in outreach: “It’s absolutely brilliant. You just get to do so much more, seeing patients one after the other and it’s good preparation for what it is going to be like in practice. You just get such a variety of things and I’m really enjoying it. “The supervision from the tutors is
great. Even if you don’t have a patient, or someone cancels, they can give you tutorials and talk to you about anything else you might need help with.” Fellow outreach student Jamie Kinnell,
26, paid tribute to the staff. He said: “The facilities are excellent; the staff and nurses are great. At the dental hospital we don’t have as many nurses but here we have staff on hand to assist us, and help us. We can also see more patients, and there is a greater integration with the dental team. “It is just thoroughly enjoyable, we see
more patients, we get to do more dentistry and it lets us feel more like dentists.” But the benefits are not just restricted
The ratio of tutors to students is much higher in outreach than in the dental schools
to the students, as Donald explained: “It’s a very stimulating environment to work in. These guys are young, enthusiastic, keen to learn and they are also learning the latest techniques and developments in materials from the dental hospital, which we are then required to know about in order to teach them. So we ourselves have to continue learning and it keeps us on our toes.”
His sentiments were echoed by James:
“If you are teaching somebody you need to be really sure about what you are talking about. I think it encourages you to keep up-to-date and to develop yourself. It is quite inspiring seeing some of these students, they are so keen and that fires your own enthusiasm.” Dental outreach in Scotland seems to be a unique example of multiple organisa- tions working together to achieve multiple
goals. Everyone benefits, from the NHS boards and their patients, to the students and the universities. Andrew Forgie concluded by saying: “I think it has been a win-win situation for all those involved. Hopefully it will pro- duce students who are much more aware of the real world situation and we are getting patients treated who may other- wise have struggled to get care. So I think that is about as good as you can really get.” And the view from the universities is
also very positive David said: “The success of outreach to date has been the result of teamwork. Considering the close working relationships which have developed among all of the stakeholders: NES, the universities and the host NHS boards, outreach is probably one of the best examples of partnership working you can find in the present time.”
Scottish Dental magazine 25
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