Dental Team Stress Spreads Beyond the Surgery Door
- Details
- Published: Friday, 03 January 2025 10:17
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 1180
Practice owners short of material for New Year‘s resolutions, may want to consider their front of house team in the light of a new piece of research.
A new study published in the BDJ exploring the mental health and well-being of dental teams has shed light on an often forgotten group. Despite the growing interest and concern about mental health in dentistry, that of dental practice managers and receptionists has so far been thinly researched.
The study was taken forward by the UK Dental Team Mental Health Research and Implementation Group, which includes experts in mental health and dentistry. It comprised an anonymous cross-sectional survey of all members of the dental team (dentists, dental care professionals and dental practice managers/receptionists) across the four constituent countries of the UK. Due to data protection requirements, dental practice managers and receptionists were combined into one category.
In total, 130 questionnaire responses were received from dental practice managers and receptionists. This represented 9% of the 1,507 valid responses across all dental professional groups.
20% identified as providing direct clinical care in addition to their administrative duties, with the majority of respondents being non-registrants. Over half of respondents worked in an independently owned practice in a general dental service (GDS) setting (54%). The majority of respondents’ main place of work was above or equal to 50% in terms of NHS commitment
Some of the free text comments echo those often made by clinical members of the team, for example: ‘I am totally burned out at work at the moment and every day seems to be getting worse. Is it going to get any better? I feel that we can’t continue with this pressure for much longer’ (practice manager/receptionist, Scotland).
Relationships with patients are described as having become increasingly difficult since the pandemic.
There were difficulties with both ‘irregular’ and ‘loyal’ patients. The first group not being appreciative of being given appointments, and the latter in terms of frustration at not getting the service they had been used to. Numbers of verbal and written complaints were highlighted as having increased significantly post pandemic.
There was also evidence of team relationships being under strain due to work intensification. Dental practice managers and receptionists were often feeling stress coming from all sides as exemplified by this response: ‘It is practice managers and reception staff that are taking the brunt from patient dissatisfaction, frustration and fear and from clinicians who are tired, unsupported, disregarded, [and] not understood’ (practice manager/receptionist, GDS corporate, Wales).
Lack of recognition was also an issue and for those working in the GDS, pay and terms and conditions were a subject of discontent. Reference was made to inequities in comparison to other healthcare settings delivering NHS services, in particular, pension and salary levels.
Roz McMullan, is a retired Consultant Orthodontist, presently Chair of Probing Stress in Dentistry in Northern Ireland (NI) and a Past President of the BDA. Also, a member of UK Dental Team Mental Health Research and Implementation Group, she told GDPUK: “This is the first of a series of studies by MINDSET UK of the present mental health of the whole dental team and the predisposing factors. This particular study is novel as it is the first time the mental health of UK practice managers and receptionists has been looked at, and the results show concerning levels of burnout and depressive symptomology in this group.
These team members are key in delivering safe and effective practice organisation and they can bear the brunt of the frustrations of both patients and other team members. We all know the scenario where a patient behaves assertively, or even aggressively, at reception, and then they come into us in the clinic as pleasant as you like. The receptionist has borne the brunt, and it is hard.”
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report
My comments