Facilitating patient-centred care for special care dentistry patients: A Quality Improvement Project in the Community Dental Service

AIM: A Quality Improvement Project in one of the Special Care Dentistry (SCD) specialist centres in the School of Dentistry in Belfast aimed to improve the identification of the specific dental care needs of SCD patients from information available in the clinical record. METHODS: The Model for Improvement was used to define project objectives and subsequently implement changes to practice aimed at achieving those objectives through Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. Continuous data collection to monitor performance was undertaken throughout. DESIGN: A Patient Needs Assessment Tool to be used during new SCD patient assessments was designed and introduced, with subsequent changes to the defined process for use following analysis of the success of the initial intervention. RESULTS: The amount of information on relevant dental care needs identifiable from clinical records following new SCD patient assessments increased from 30 to 90%, whereas the time taken to identify the relevant information decreased from 2 min and 31 s to 17 s. CONCLUSION: The use of a Patient Needs Assessment pro-forma can achieve significant improvements in the extent and accessibility of information available to assist in the planning and delivery of appropriate and equitable care for SCD patients.