A common European Curriculum for Dental Hygiene ‐ Domain III: Patient‐centred Care

This position paper outlines the areas of competence and learning outcomes of the Common European Curriculum for Dental Hygiene (CECDH) that specifically relate to patient-centred care. Patient-centred care is defined by the Institute of Medicine (2011) as “Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” This means a shared decision making and support for self-care. Dental hygienists´ primary focus is on oral health promotion and disease prevention. Dental hygienists must be aware of the scientific basis that underpins the treatment they provide. They have to incorporate behavioural, social and biomedical science knowledge in order to generate evidence-based judgements.1 In many cases, dental hygienists across Europe will be working to a prescription from a dentist—and as such are not often required to formulate diagnoses. However, where dental hygienists are able to treat patients directly, the process of planning and evaluating treatment requires dental hygienists to be able to listen, collate and record pertinent information effectively. The degree to which a dental hygienist can assess and discriminate patient emotion will undoubtedly affect the quality and accuracy of history-taking. The ability to read and manage emotions is, therefore, considered to be an important skill for any health care professional.2 In addition, the ability to account for a patient's social, cultural and linguistic needs (cultural competence) will result in a dental hygienist who is able to provide patient-centred care.3 This often results in patients being more satisfied and more likely to actively participate in their treatment.4, 5 The scientific basis of dental hygiene encompasses behavioural, social and biomedical sciences. Within this domain, the recommendation is that educators refer to published papers and guidelines from specialists in dentistry as well as published papers in health promotion and behavioural change. Learning outcomes: At the time of qualification, and in keeping with their scope of practice, a dental hygienist should be able to apply the scientific knowledge base relating to: To be able to make shared decisions, it is necessary to gather information relating to a patient's ideas, concerns and expectations. This is especially important in relation to oral health promotion and prevention, which often requires behavioural change. In some cases, dental hygienists must also gather clinical information, interpret data and formulate diagnoses. Learning outcomes: At the time of qualification, and in keeping with their scope of practice, a dental hygienist should be able to effectively gather, record and interpret information relating to: Once a diagnosis is determined, an appropriate treatment plan should be devised. Depending on their scope of practice, the treatment plan may either be devised by the dental hygienist themselves, or a referring dentist. If the hygienist is working to a prescription from a dentist, it may still be necessary for them to devise a patient-specific plan of treatment for the oral hygiene and preventive components. Learning outcomes: At the time of qualification, a graduating dental hygienist should be able to: Learning outcomes: Dental hygienists are key providers of oral health promotion and prevention. A critical part of this process involves developing appropriate behaviour change with patients. This means communicating effectively with patients at all stages of their lives, including children, adolescents, adults and the ageing population. Current concepts of prevention and treatment (within their scope of practice) should be implemented using recognised materials and techniques that maintain soft and hard tissue health and that are acceptable to the patient. In relation to prescribing, and where this activity falls within the dental hygienist's scope of practice, educators are directed to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidance6 and specifically the NICE (National Institute for Health & Care Excellence) guidelines, which has a number of useful associated e-learning resources on antimicrobial stewardship. This is increasingly important to slow the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and ensure that antimicrobials remain an effective treatment option for infection. At the time of qualification, and in keeping with their scope of practice, a dental hygienist should be able to: The EDHF would like to acknowledge and thank: The CEF taskforce. All individuals who personally responded to the consultation, in addition to those who coordinated a response on behalf of an organisation, society, regulator or institution. Individuals who have supported reference group activity relating to each of the domains. ADEE representation, from a pedagogic perspective in terms of constructing and defining learning outcomes.