Dental nurses are trained in surgery firstly by observing a fully trained nurse and then gradually carrying out procedures and then taking full control of the nursing position under the supervision of the trained nurse.
At all times the trainee nurse is under the overall supervision in the surgery of the dentist and their training/induction is only complete when the full programme has been successfully completed and checked by the head nurses.
After three months, every new nurse is given a “quiz” to check their knowledge. We often revisit training after a period based on the on going mentoring of the head nurses and their recommendations. All nurses are either on a waiting list for a college course are on a course or registered with the General Dental Council. No nurse is allowed to nurse unless they have been through the full induction/training period at NHS Dentist. We conduct 6 monthly “crash” tests (emergency procedures), fire drills and have weekly staff meetings which cover training, legislation, procedures, infection control etc.
We have annual CPR training for everyone and all our professional staff undertake continuing professional development both at internal and external courses.
Everyone has an annual performance appraisal which allows us all to say what we have enjoyed most and least about our jobs over the past year and to set goals for ourselves for the next year. From these appraisals, we construct a training plan which covers a whole range of subjects from languages to dental specialisms.
