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Faculty of Health Sciences

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Dental technicians

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    The knowledge, perceptions, compliance and challenges of dental technicians and technologists in KwaZulu-Natal towards Continuing Professional Development
    (2021-05-27) Seedat, Naeem Cassim; Vahed, Anisa; Muslim, Tufayl Ahmed
    Literature documents that Continuing Professional Development (CPD) helps to track how practitioners are improving their skills, competency and performance while acquiring new skills to improve the quality of patient care. This process supports health care professionals to maintain, improve and advance their knowledge, skills, ethical and professional behaviour throughout their working life. Annually, dental technicians and technologists are required to provide evidence of their CPD engagement in order to retain their professional registration. This entails accruing a minimum of 30 Continuing Educational Units (CEUs) per annum. Reportedly, dental technicians have expressed their dissatisfaction with the management of CPD by the South African Dental Technicians Council (SADTC). Apart from this, there are no known studies on the challenges experienced by South African dental technicians and technologists concerning CPD compliance, which is required to keep them abreast of international and technological trends. This study therefore aimed to ascertain the knowledge, perception, compliance and challenges of dental technicians and technologists in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) towards CPD, in order to provide evidence-based information to guide stakeholders in the provision and management of CPD and to inform CPD policy formation and reform initiatives. This study used a quantitative non-experimental and descriptive research design, which follows a positivism paradigm. The study population involved dental technicians (n = 83) from KZN who completed an online questionnaire, which was underpinned by Kirkpatrick’s Four-level Training Evaluation model. The questionnaire mainly focused on dental technicians’ awareness, opinions and perceptions of CPD in terms of its delivery, quality of training, barriers to accessing activities and accruing CEUs. Data was analysed using descriptive (Univariate and Bivariate) and inferential (Mann Whitney and Chi Square) statistics (SPSS Version 25®) with the level of significance set at p<0.05. Using the principles of thematic analysis, five prominent themes emerged from the open-ended questions. Content validity ensured that the questionnaire focused on concepts and constructs from the literature review on CPD. The reliability of the results was maintained by Cronbach’s alpha. The results of the study revealed that CPD improves professional competency and supports the learning of advancements in technology. This coupled with the ease of access to CPD-related activities and ongoing communication from the SADTC enabled dental technicians and technologists to be CPD compliant. In contrast, the factors constraining dental technicians and technologists from being CPD compliant were their lack of awareness of the various ways to accrue CEUs, the high costs associated with CPD training, as well as a lack of financial and time relief from dental technologists (employers) to attend CPD activities. The attendance-based CPD activities and negligible adherence of the SADTC audit process to the principles of the South African National Standard (SANS 19011) audit document further exacerbated the constraints on compliance. In view of the results, the study recommends that dental technologists develop internal company policies to assist staff in attending CPD activities and provide more in-house and work-based CPD activities. It is further recommended that the SADTC revise the current Continuous Professional Development CEU accrual document to better align with the advancements of technologies currently taking place within the profession. Future studies should examine the auditing practices used by the SADTC in order to determine its alignment with the guidelines set out in the SANS 19011 audit document.
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    Perceptions on the addition of clinical practice to the dental technology curriculum
    (2009) Mqadi, Nonhlanhla Precious; McKenna, Sioux; Somers, Grant
    The Dental Technology profession in South Africa is currently undergoing a possible role transformation. In the past, Dental Technicians were restricted to laboratory work only and were not permitted to have direct contact with patients. Due to a demand for oral care, and a gap that is perceived to exist in service delivery, Clinical Dental Technology has emerged as a possible new profession in South Africa. The 1997 amendment to the Dental Technicians Act allows Dental Technicians to broaden their scope of practice through further education into the clinical aspects of the profession. South Africa is one of few countries that have an enabling legislation in terms of the recognition of Clinical Dental Technology. However, there is to date no training programme or curriculum for people who would like to practise as Clinical Dental Technicians. The three institutions in South Africa that provide training for Dental Technicians do not provide training to those technicians who would like to pursue a clinical career path. Internationally, Dentists have argued that Dental Technicians have insufficient clinical capabilities. They feel that technicians do not have sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing directly with patients, and consequently have identified a need for further training of Dental Technicians before they are recognised as Clinical Dental Technicians. The aim of this study was to evaluate educational institutions’ readiness in terms of the role transformation of Dental Technicians and to establish perceptions about the introduction of this new profession by Dentists, Dental Technicians and Dental Technology lecturers. The views of these three stakeholders have implications not only in terms of the development of a new curriculum, but were also found to raise serious concerns about the implementation of this profession in South Africa. Data was collected by means of questionnaires and personal interviews with Dentists, Dental Technicians and Dental Technology lecturers in South Africa. The responses were transcribed and then coded according to pertinent themes for interpretation purposes. The data revealed major differences in the perceptions of the proposed profession by the three sectors. This has important implications for the likely success of Clinical Dental Technology, given the need for these sectors to work together as members of the dental team. The data also reveals concerns about the type of training that would need to be incorporated into the curriculum and who would be able to provide such training. By using an overview of curriculum theory, this study also raises concerns that clinical aspects might be infused into the curriculum as simply the acquisition of additional technical skills, rather than as a significant shift in professional identity to incorporate patient care.