MAINTAINING THE QUALITY OF DENTAL UNDERGRADUATES FOR GENERAL DENTAL PRACTICE - A PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT STUDY

An investigation and survey explored the effect of the display of dent al undergraduates clinical performance by a process termed silent moni toring. The study measured the effect of silent monitoring on the qual ity of patients' treatment and the frequency of non-attendance at appo intments for patients arranged by undergraduates. A cross-sectional st udy also estimated the impact of silent monitoring on undergraduates' clinic time use. Both enquiries revealed that silent monitoring motiva ted students. It significantly increased the number of patients treate d and reduced the non-attendance of appointments. However, there was a n increase in the incidence of patients informing undergraduates that they could not attend appointments. This phenomenon allowed the resche duling of appointments and better use of clinic time; Silent monitorin g increased the time undergraduates spent preparing for the patients' treatment. It also improved the patients punctuality. Evaluation of th e procedure by questionnaires showed approval of the method, although some undergraduates felt that aspects of their assessment were unfair, A survey revealed that other United Kingdom dental schools do not use silent monitoring, If they adopted such a method, it could have simil ar positive influences on their undergraduates' management of clinical practice and improve the quality for dental practice.