The imbalance between demand and supply in Dutch healthcare led to the introduction of task redistribution at the beginning of the 21st century. Some new occupations arrived, and many, especially occupations in allied healthcare, underwent major changes in scope of practice and authorization. One example is dental hygiene, which is the field of study chosen for this thesis.
The questionnaire was completed by 36 third year nursing students. Results indicate that main reasons for insufficient dental hygiene performed by nurses include insufficient knowledge of protocols, lack of skills and time, opposition of the patient and low priority. In addition, respondents indicated that an eHealth application with explanation, pictures, videos, examples and a reminder function and a possibility for report could help nurses to optimize dental hygiene care in their elderly patients.
Background: Dental fear and uncooperative behavior can hinder dental treatment quality. Pediatric Procedural Sedation and Analgesia (PPSA) is used to facilitate treatment when the coping capacity is exceeded. Out-of-hospital PPSA has been associated with more adverse outcomes compared to when it is used in hospital-based settings. The updated Dutch PPSA guidelines have increased costs and raised concerns about the accessibility of specialized high-quality dental care for children in the Netherlands. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the updated 2017 guidelines on the occurrence rate of adverse events during PPSA in twelve Dutch dental clinics. Methods: The data of 25,872 children who were treated at twelve dental clinics between 1997 and 2019 were analyzed. A logistic two-level mixed-effects model was used to estimate the updated guidelines’ impacts on adverse events. Results: The OR of the occurrence rate of an adverse event adjusted for age, weight, and duration of treatment was 0.75 (95% CI 0.64–0.89) after the implementation of the updated guidelines. This outcome was significant with p = 0.001, indicating a protective effect. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that there was a significant reduction in adverse events after the implementation of the updated guideline and highlight the importance of adhering to evidence-based practices in out-of-hospital dental clinics.
