Data is all around us. We are constantly using data, processing data or submitting data of one kind or another. For those of us in NHS practice, we are not new to collecting and sending information to the NHS for treatment claims. Most recently we have added the Friends and Family Test to the list of returns that we make to the NHS. Data collection is not unique to the NHS and just as much is collected by insurance companies or dental treatment funders. I also hear hospital colleagues have to submit just as much data on their treatment activity as well.
As a society we have a thirst for data and information, with the internet and technological advances our ability to access and process large amounts of data has continued to improve. The way we visualise information has improved which makes it easier to relate to large volumes of data. Each time we process data it is likely to have an impact on us or our patients. We know that some patients and practitioners change their behaviour when presented with information or data about the behaviour of others, this seems inevitable but wasn’t always possible when we didn’t have sophisticated ways of collecting or sharing information.
Supermarkets and retailers have become particularly sophisticated in their ability to analyse patterns and trends in behaviour and lifestyle in order to optimise the way they market products, how they organise their shops and their pricing strategies. They have invested in understanding how human beings behave in order to improve their goal of selling the most products.
In dentistry, Public Health England and NHS England does some of this type of trend analysis. They collect epidemiological data from individuals in the population and they also have access to NHS claims data which collectively they use to understand patient needs and services. However, these surveys take place relatively infrequently and whilst some of them take place every year, other groups are only analysed every 10 years. In an age when we want real time access to data, even a year seems like it is too long. If we are going to improve our understanding of population level trends in relation to NHS service users then we need a way of collecting information about disease experience and lifestyle far more readily and more easily.
Most recently, you may have read the final opinion on amalgam from the European Commission. Whilst the decision being made was one about safety and science, it did make me wonder how much we as a dental community know about views of our patients towards amalgam and whether patient expectations are changing more rapidly than we think. We do not really have a co-ordinated way of knowing how many patients have received amalgam restorations and how many have received alternatives. Manufacturers and resellers of these products will know from their sales approximately what demand is like but it doesn’t relate exactly to what different groups of patients may be seeking.
The government in England has developed a strategy on personalisation in health which also includes patient access to their health record. Part of this is a response to patients and their desire to have greater access to their own information, but another element of this is behaviour change and by empowering patients with information it may start to change behaviour.
In dentistry, we try and influence behaviour in a practice setting but often we see patients at a point when the damage has been done. Clearly, as dental teams we still have a role in behaviour change, but more importantly we need to help our patients access the information they need that is actually going to make a difference and change
their behaviour in a sustainable way.
In my view, dental providers, dental IT suppliers and commissioners need to improve data collection and visualisation in order to effect behaviour change amongst patients. We need a big data approach to dentistry.