Dental services are unique product delivery. There are many various products delivered in clinical dentistry, including the use of diagnostic support tools and dentists’ abilities. Dental services require repeat visits for the comprehensive treatment process, which explains the uniqueness of dental services. Patient satisfaction is frequently used to assess the quality of healthcare services. For dental care services, identifying important determinants of patient satisfaction and increasing the healthcare service quality are equally important.
The Service Quality (SERVQUAL) model, often known as the gap model, was created to evaluate the service quality of general businesses and is now widely used to analyze the service quality in healthcare. It aids in calculating the gap between patient expectations and perceptions. Risk management in healthcare is considered the most difficult duty during the delivery of health services, as healthcare risks have a significant impact on the well-being of patients, clients, visitors, and healthcare employees and can disrupt the smooth delivery of health services. One of the most important results is that there are three categories of risks: predictable hazards that organizations are aware of, risks that an organization is aware of but that is caused by chance, and risks that organizations are unaware of.
Patient satisfaction in dentistry can assist in identifying the strengths and limitations of dental services, as well as improving treatment quality and, moreover, assisting the improvement of treatment quality and better future planning. The commitment to providing high-quality service and achieving patient satisfaction becomes an essential issue for dental healthcare providers. Patient satisfaction is a multidimensional concept that considers the patient’s educational background, lifestyle, medical history, and expectations. Patients need dental treatment to reduce discomfort, have regular oral health exams, improve dental esthetics, and, in some cases, get full-mouth occlusal rehabilitation. Patients frequently value accessibility and convenience when choosing a dentist, preferring dental facilities close to their homes or easily accessible by public transportation. Patients frequently seek medical centers because of the doctor’s professional ability, technological expertise, and reputation.
Patients have high expectations and need in terms of empathy (approach to the patient), assurance, and response. The ability to communicate, which is a component of empathy, is critical in reducing patients’ dissatisfaction (e.g., disease explanation, dental treatment, and medical records confidentiality). The guests in Holland, on the other hand, discovered that dental personnel’s communication abilities were underestimated when compared with other components of treatment quality. Another factor affecting dental service quality was the dimensions of physical condition, reliability, and assurance. Risk management in health care has been shown to be the most difficult task throughout the delivery of health services, as healthcare risks have a significant impact on patients’ well-being. In the healthcare industry, risk management is compulsory for lowering the cost of medical malpractice and improving healthcare services. It means that, in order to deliver outstanding service, health centers will need to implement risk management strategies in addition to quality management tools.
The lack of a qualified, professional dental nurse with a local grasp of the working environment constitutes a risk to patient safety in general dentistry practice. This could be a result of insufficient stand-in selection, training, induction, or clinical supervision. In practice, a full risk management system will be required to mitigate this risk. Understanding, analyzing, regulating, and pricing the risk are all steps in the prevention process. The effectiveness of a well-trained team of safety-conscious persons depends on thorough screening, contracting, and training of personnel, as well as proper standards-setting frameworks, resources, regulations, protocols, processes, and checks within a clearly specified command chain.
The objective of implementing a risk management program in dentistry practices is to continually improve patient care while lowering the frequency and severity of events. Patient satisfaction can aid in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of dental services and in improving the treatment quality. Risk management and quality appear strongly connected one another.
Author: Raden Darmawan Setijanto
View more information of our research at:
https://www.jioh.org/text.asp?2022/14/3/209/348412
Mirandani D, Setijanto D. Dental care service quality assists in comprehensive clinical dental risk management: A narrative review. J Int Oral Health 2022;14:209-14
