Standards of Training for House Officers and Senior House Officers in Dentistry

A COPDEND/FDS RCS(Eng) Policy Statement 

A Policy Statement issued jointly by The Conference of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors and The Faculty of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons, England
May 2001

Introduction

The Dental Deans and Directors, and the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England have been concerned that HOs and SHOs in the Dental Specialties have been exposed to variable standards of training in England and Wales, both in the content and supervision.

HO and SHO posts in the Dental Specialties should be considered normally as a placement for general professional training and, to receive Deanery approval, posts have to be recognised by the Hospital Recognition Committee of the relevant Royal College. Hospital Recognition Committee recognition of a post makes post-holders eligible to sit the MFDS examination. Some SHO posts in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery may additionally be recognised for eligibility to sit the MRCS examination. Appointments normally are for six or twelve months; those for six months are usually extended to a full year by mutual agreement. Some individuals may wish to have extended experience after achieving the MFDS and take a further year in an SHO post. The Hospital Recognition Committee arranges visits to hospitals on a five-yearly basis and sets general standards; the Deans and Directors of Postgraduate Dental Education ensure that those standards are applied. This paper has been prepared to define the requirements for training in the dental specialties and to assist educational supervisors in preparing training programmes for their HOs and SHOs. In particular, it has been prepared to:-

• Reduce repetitious work of low educational potential
  
• Maintain a balanced training programme within each placement of a rotation
  
• Ensure adequate supervision and training
  
• Protect the trainee and the trainer from excessive service pressures in at least one clinic per week
  
• Provide training in as many disciplines within dentistry as possible within the HO/SHO appointment.
  
• General requirements for all HOs and SHOs in the dental specialties

General Requirements for all HOs and SHOs

Requirements which all HOs and SHOs are expected to have.

• Have a named educational supervisor who is responsible for overseeing the educational progress of the trainee. The supervisor would be responsible for agreeing a learning plan with the trainee, undertaking appraisals and providing feedback on progress. He/she will ensure that the COPDEND/Faculty Training and Appraisal manual is kept up to date. Many educational supervisors are responsible for three or more trainees and we suggest that the supervisor should have appropriate time made available for the purpose.
• Have an induction programme at the beginning of each new appointment in a Trust Hospital
• Participate in audit in sessions set aside for the purpose.
• Have ready access to library, study facilities and informatics training.
• Have the minimum of an appraisal at one week, two months and ten months. Additional appraisals may be required during the appointment of a trainee.
• Be allowed study leave and expenses according to HC(PC)(77)12 (England and Wales) and "Guidelines for Study Leave" SCPMDE (Scotland).
• Have access to a structured training programme which has generic and clinically-based content. The teaching periods may be organised in different ways - in a department, within a rotation, or regionally on a day-release basis, or a combination of these.

Specific Requirements

We recommend that there should be a core training requirement in the HO and SHO working week which may differ slightly between the disciplines. During a period of training, the sessions should average out as follows:

An average of one session per week, monitored over three monthly periods¨ :

• Outpatients with a designated trainer undertaking teaching
• Minor oral surgery with a designated trainer undertaking teaching, to include local anaesthesia and/or sedation techniques
• Operating under general anaesthesia in theatre with a designated trainer undertaking teaching and giving one-to-one training
• The equivalent of one bleep-free teaching session with an organised training curriculum including topics from the MFDS syllabus.
• The equivalent of one session of ward work
• Experience of other dental disciplines (if available)

No more than one session of:

• Pre-admission clinic
• Pre-operative clerking on the ward
• Unsupervised minor oral surgery
• Unsupervised outpatients (non-treatment)

3-4 sessions per week, monitored over three monthly periods of

• personal clinical treatment with a designated trainer available for advice

An average of 1 session per week, monitored over three monthly periods¨of

• Outpatients with the designated trainer undertaking clinical teaching
• Clinical treatment with the designated trainer in attendance
• Emergency Dental treatment with a designated trainer available
• The equivalent of one bleep-free teaching session with an organised training curriculum including topics from the MFDS syllabus
• Experience of other dental disciplines (if available)

3-4 sessions per week, monitored over three monthly periods of

• Personal clinical treatment with supervisor available for advice

An average of 1 session per week, monitored over three monthly periods of

• Outpatients with the designated trainer available for treatment planning
• Clinical treatment with the designated trainer in attendance
• Emergency Dental treatment with designated trainer available for treatment planning
• Operating theatre, if available
• The equivalent of one bleep-free teaching session with an organised training curriculum including topics from the MFDS syllabus
• Experience of other dental disciplines (if available)

3-4 sessions per week, monitored over three monthly periods of

• Personal clinical treatment with designated trainer available for advice

An average of 1 session per week, monitored over three monthly periods of

• Outpatients with the designated trainer undertaking clinical teaching
• Clinical treatment with the designated trainer in attendance
• Emergency Dental treatment
• Operating theatre, if available, or Oral Medicine clinic
• The equivalent of one bleep-free teaching session with an organised training curriculum including topics from the MFDS syllabus.

Monitoring over three monthly periods should be carried out by educational supervisors to ensure that the timetables of HOs and SHOs incorporate good casemix and quality experience in each of the designated areas.