Absolute Dental Centre

Record of Experience - what are the benefits?

Having just met with my new intake of students for the next evening course for dental nurses, http://www.absolute-dental.co.uk/absolute%20training/absolute_training_course4.htm one of the first things I am keen to impress upon them, and their workplace mentors, is the significance of the NEBDNs Record of Experience (RoE) and the huge part it will play in their workplace training.

The RoE was introduced after the GDC decided there needed to be a better way of continually assessing student dental nurses, rather than just basing their pass/fail award on the final examination. I think this is a great idea. For many the thought of sitting an examination, with your career in the balance is terrifying. At least with a RoE behind them, the students have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on and a real sense of achievement upon completion of the RoE that it offers a boost of confidence too.

The RoE consists of approximately 145 Personal Experience Record Sheets (PERS) for the students to complete, and they cover all procedures within general dentistry and usually include treatment room set up, instrument preparation, dental nurse role during the procedure and treatment room clear down/sterilisation procedure. The PERS needs to be witnessed by the students mentor (who is already registered with the GDC), and gives room for both the student and witness to add their reflections on the procedure. If completed correctly, the PERS serve to be a valuable learning tool for the student, who can ask their mentor to give pointers on how they could have assisted in the procedure in a different way, or how they could improve a certain technique (eg mixing alginate) in the future. This way, the student is encouraged to improve their performance and receives constructive feedback at the same time. This benefits both the student and the patients, who are receiving treatment from a team working together to offer a first class service. I always teach "best practice" on the course, and I expect to see this reflected in the PERS, once again aiming to improve the students understanding and performance of their duties.

A hurried RoE, a mentor who is reluctant to sign PERS or offer any feedback to their student is NOT a useful learning tool. Students and mentors need to accept the responsibility that comes with the RoE and plan to complete it in a way that is beneficial to the students learning and treatment offered to our patients. It should be embraced, viewed as a challenge and something the students can look back on and reflect on their improvements as they progressed with their training - every day presents opportunities to improve on yesterdays performance -the scale of the improvements is up to us!