Taking care

Dental nurses should wear their qualification badges with pride.

The health minister, Ann Keen, recently announced that general medical nurses will need to have a university degree to enter the profession after 2013, a move that has been both hailed and criticised simultaneously. It could be argued that dental nurses have had to face a similar upheaval with the introduction of mandatory registration by the General Dental Council in 2008 requiring new registrants to pass a recognised national qualification to be eligible.

The medical nurse unions, Unison and Unite, have stated that there is no ‘compelling evidence’ that degrees for nurses have improved patient treatment. Looking back at the early days of mandatory dental nursing registration, I wonder whether dental patients are receiving better care as a result of registration?

Dental nursing is a very hands-on profession. It is important to have the knowledge of how to perform the tasks undertaken and an understanding as to why, but it cannot be assumed that by having passed an exam that knowledge is present. It is all too easy for some more academically suited individuals to achieve the exam requirements whilst still not being good nurses at a practical level, although of course this could apply equally to other healthcare professionals, doctors and dentists included.