Dentist/Nurse Team. Is nurse rotation good or bad?

Loas1 wrote: Hi

I think its a good idea. Ive worked in practices where rotation is in place and also where i have worked constantly alongside one dentist. One major plus point that i have for rotation, is that there is nothing worse than turning up at work to find that your dentist is off and you need to assist a different clinician whom you have no experience of working with, which as we know is a very daunting prospect. With rotation this 'dread' is avoided. i do agree that weekly rotation is not a good idea and cant see how that works effectively. I believe that monthly rotation is much more practical. Provided you have a good management system in place in the practice there shouldnt be probs. In the long run it will broaden your experience, increase your flexibility and adaptability in the work place which in turn will boost your confidence

Good point about working with different dentist. Luckily for me this doesn't apply. I work in a four dentist practice but am only employed by the dentist I work with permanently. So if he's not in I please myself what I do. Fortunately for him I'm very conscientious and don't take the pee!!

Hi

I think its a good idea. Ive worked in practices where rotation is in place and also where i have worked constantly alongside one dentist. One major plus point that i have for rotation, is that there is nothing worse than turning up at work to find that your dentist is off and you need to assist a different clinician whom you have no experience of working with, which as we know is a very daunting prospect. With rotation this 'dread' is avoided. i do agree that weekly rotation is not a good idea and cant see how that works effectively. I believe that monthly rotation is much more practical. Provided you have a good management system in place in the practice there shouldnt be probs. In the long run it will broaden your experience, increase your flexibility and adaptability in the work place which in turn will boost your confidence

Hi there

I agree with shazza that in a rotation setting some nurses aren't a good at stocking up as others but to over come this every unit and surgery has a cleaning matrix, the nurses have to sign and tick the area is cleaned,stocked in the morning and at night. This is checked by myself and the other seniors if we are told its not been signed by the last nurse we speak to that nurse, its not an option not to stock the unit it has to be left ready for use everyday.
There too many clinicians for them to get a nurse each but I can see how it'd work in a practice we don't have our patients for very long or the clinicians some are with us 3 years some only 6 months! So there is never continuity.

I've worked with the same dentist for 26 years!!
In the practice we work in each dentist has their own nurse. The patients seem to prefer it. If I'm off for any reason the patients ask where I am.
I know a nurse and a dentist that work in an 8 surgery practice and the nurses rotate weekly. Neither of them like it. The dentist says it causes problems. There's no continuity. The nurse hates it. The other problem is no one is responsible for any one surgery. I know I'm responsible for cleaning, stock control etc in my surgery. I'm responsible for my record cards.
In a rotation good nurses will be keen to keep surgeries clean, tidy and well stocked. The not so good nurses don't care so much.
If anything goes wrong in my room ( it doesn't ) everyone knows it's down to me.

Hi there

I work in a hospital we have 13 units and 3 side surgeries I lead 10 dental nurses and we have 1 SHO, 6 consultants, 2 registrars, 3 LDFTs and 4 post graduates and 20 BSc under grads. We work to a weekly rota and all the clinicians have their allocated clinic sessions,I make a rota for the nurses we regularly mix between working with the very junior to a consultant level we regularly rotate as every girl is to be able to work with any clinician and do any form of treatment as its daily and constant we don't really notice it now you get used to who your working so it stops the attitude of the surgery 1 dentist and nurse team instead we are all one big team all work together , it does take time getting used to it though but its not as bad as you'd think.

A little bit of background first;
At both practices I've worked at I've been placed with one dentist and expected to work mainly with that one dentist, unless I'm free and needed to cover another nurse. The practice I currently work for has 6 surgeries (4 dentists, 4 nurses and 2 hygienists)
I find that this way of working (one nurse paired with one dentist, every day of the week) allows things to run smoothly, prevents us from running behind and allows the dentist and nurse to form a bond which creates a comfortable atmosphere for patients.


From experience I know that when dentists work with nurses they're not used to working with (and vice versa) everything gets very muddled. Treatments take much longer, the atmosphere can be very tense and mistakes are made on both the dentist and nurses part.
The obvious result of this is that patients are kept waiting, staff get stressed, and it can seem to the patient that the people they are trusting with their oral health are not too sure of themselves.

The reason I bring this up is that the corporation I work for have had the idea of rotating nurses so that no nurse is working with one dentist regularly. So, each dentist will have a different nurse every day. Their reasoning for this is that it will improve efficiency.
As you can probably tell, I disagree. The dentists are especially annoyed as they work best with the nurse they work with regularly and can see the enormous headache this new idea will give them.

Personally, I get on very well with my current dentist. I like to joke that I can read her mind. I know exactly what she's about to do before she does it and the pair of us can get a filling done in minutes, without her having to instruct me on anything. I have worked with 20 different dentists over 3 years and definitely consider myself adaptable but, to me, it seems counterintuitive to split up a good team.

I know the other nurses in my practice work just as well with their own dentists and, although we are all capable of working with other dentists, we think it's best to stick with what you're used to. Especially when time and quality is of the essence.

I was hoping to get other nurses opinions on this matter as we are hoping to contest the decision and it would be of great help to me if I could get your thoughts.
For example;
Are you placed with one dentist, or rotated?
What is your relationship like with your dentists?
Do you work more comfortably and efficiently with a dentist you are used to, or would you rather work with a different dentist everyday?
What does your dentist think?

Thank you in advance!!

Dom