Rachel’s round up: Team training part 2

So let’s look at what your team need to know. We have just started a new CPD year, so this is a good place to start, look at your core of knowledge subjects

• Infection control
• Medical emergencies
• Radiography

And the recommended subjects

• Ethical & Legal
• Complaints handling
• Oral cancer

Can any of these be carried out by a competent team member?

A good example would be a training session in complaints handling. Every practice should have a complaints policy and every team member should be aware of the policy and capable of directing a complaint to the right channel or providing a solution effectively – this is also a CQC requirement.
So you could spend 1-2 hours training your team on how to deal with complaints locally i.e. in-house. This will of course aid the massive backlog the GDC are currently experiencing if more complaints were dealt with effectively in practice before being escalated to the GDC.

• Review your own complaints policy,
• ensure all team members know about it and
• who deals with complaints within the practice.
• What are the time frames involves for dealing with complaints and the protocol for responding to patient concerns.

Then talk about the type of language you should use when dealing with complaints as this is what in my experience the dental team struggle with the most.

If you structure some clear and achievable aims and objectives to accompany the session you can even make it a verifiable learning session as long as all staff members are allowed to feedback on the delivery of the session.

Remember – don’t forget to record all training sessions, those present sign an attendance form, minutes are taken to formally record what has been trained or discussed or a copy of the presentation stored in a training file.