Table of Contents

Scenario One. 3

Scenario Two. 4

References. 7

Scenario One

Professionalism

The professionalism in the case of Thomas Jones is not maintained by the second student of dental hygiene and therapy. According to the act of professionalism, the awareness of the condition of the patient is one of the crucial and mandatory ethics of work. While in the process of dental treatment, the local anesthesia is not done properly. For that reason, Thomas Jones faced a lot of pain. The principles of the dental treatment process were not maintained properly (Ramaswamy, 2019). This indicates the lack of concentration which claims negligence as well as the fault of professionalism of the second student while providing the treatment of Thomas Jones. That is why the professionalism of this second student is not maintained properly and ethically too.  

Ethical considerations and Consequences

The process of treatment by the second student for his patient Thomas Jones was not right according to the ethics of the work. The right way of this dental treatment has to be started by the proper process of local anesthesia by which the feelings of pain are not felt by the patient Thomas Jones. The patient Thomas Jones came to reduce his disease, but the process of treatment also raised his trouble (Lee et al. 2020). That is why taking awareness (6.3 law) and maintaining all the principles of treatment is the right way of ethical consideration for the second student.

The discussions about the faults in the process of treatment of the patent Thomas Jones by the second student also affects negatively (1.8.3 law) on the mind of the other listeners (Holden, 2017). The wrong procedure of treatment and the painful incidents also raise the negative image on the mind of the other listeners. It can immediately affect the number of patients who come to the clinic for dental treatment.    

GDC Standards application or breach

  • The behavior of the second student immediately broke the standard of the GDC. According to the standard of GDC (1.7.1 law), the dignity, equality, and respect of the patients have to be maintained.
  • In the case of the treatment procedure of Thomas Jones, dignity was not maintained in the procedure of treatment as well as respect (6.3 law) was also not maintained as he suffered a lot in this treatment process.
  • On the other hand, the awareness (1.8.3 law) for the patient was not cared for in the process of treatment (O'Brien et al. 2019). From that point of view, it is clear that the GDC standard was not maintained in this treatment procedure.

Learning Points and Actions

This mistake in the process of treatment by the second student affects fitness to the practice. The negative impact must be reflected on the career of this second student (Gormley et al. 2021). The fault and casualty in the process of treatment, as well as the lack of awareness about the patient in the process of treatment, also indicates the failure, which immediately impacts the performance of this second student in the clinic. The professionalism of this student must face some challenges in future.

The student has to confess all of his negligence in his job. Including that, the student must take extra care (6.3, 1.8.3, and 11.3 laws of GDC) for the health of Thomas Jones and has to solve all of his dental issues with exclusive care.   

Reflection

From my point of view, the behavior and procedure of treatment of the second student in the clinic were not perfect. To bring the awareness of the student in the process of treatment, the GDC standard has to be maintained strictly by these students. Otherwise, the system of penalties has to be integrated into the principles of the GDC standard.

Scenario Two

Ethical considerations, actions, and Consequences for Pippa

Pippa shouldn’t approach the treatment provided by Oscar. As Oscar is not acting as a professional and possibly consuming alcohol, Oscar isn’t designated as a professional senior practice partner in dental practices. Pippa should approach him later when Oscar becomes in his normal behavior.

Pippa also has a patient history where she ran out from the surgery due to fear and anxiety. I should act as the support option where Pippa can get assistance for her surgery.

I should allow Pippa not to approach Oscar as he is not practicing with professionalism (Kowalski et al. 2017). Overall, Oscar terrified her while approaching her dental treatment. The clinical history of Pippa indicates the possible outcome where Pippa may not visit the dental clinic again for the dental surgery.

Ethical considerations, actions, and Consequences for Oscar

Oscar is not conducting professionally because of his consumption of alcohol. In medical professionalism, consumption of alcohol is highly restricted before treatment of patients. Oscar shouldn’t practice dental surgery because his sense (professionalism) is not present for the day (Monday morning).

Oscar should be penalized for his actions (Leuter et al. 2018).

Oscar shouldn’t get any support if he interrupts his practice due to alcohol consumption. If he didn’t, then he should be questioned for his behavior with patients who have a clinical history of freaking and anxiety.

As I am not certain about Oscar’s alcohol consumption, the possible outcome for the situation is to investigate the situation after his job suspension, and if found guilty, he should be suspended for breaching professionalism.

GDC Standards application or breach

Yes, the scenario breached GDC standards.

Examples

  • In the GDC standard, watch patients should be treated with dignity, equity, and respect (1.7.1) (Field et al. 2020). But in this scenario, the patient Pippa was not treated with respect. I even found out that she was restrained by Oscar and was terrified by the behavior of Oscar.
  • Oscar didn’t take the responsibility to give the utmost care to the patient, who especially has a clinical history of running out from the surgery because of anxiety. By this activity, the GDC standard is breached majorly (Blum and Hooper, 2019).
  • Oscar didn’t take care of the patient’s dignity and her choice (1.8.3). I found out that he was not professional though I was not certain about his alcohol consumption. This action breached the importance of taking account of the patient's personal choice first.

Learning Points and Actions

The behavior and lack of professionalism affected the “fitness to practice” in dental clinics. Professionalism and maintenance of the GDC standard are some major crucial practices in dental care (Snowden et al. 2017). If these are not maintained by the senior and junior practitioners, then the activities can breach the standards, which may be taken action in penalty and license suspension. This unprofessional behavior can also affect Oscar's medical career as he can be suspended or restricted for medical practice due to his behavior with terrified patients.

Reflection

As a student, I have learnt about professionalism and clinical practices with the GDC standards. I have learnt that Patients is the main focus of care and dignity in dental practices. Unprofessional behavior can harm the fitness of dental practice.

I will develop a personalized plan where I will follow all the GDC standards, and I will take care of the patient’s clinical history with their needs. By this planning, I will exist in professional practices and will focus on a more patient-based clinical approach. I will develop a personalized patient history and check-up planning that will cover the GDC standards and professional medical intervention.

References

Blum, I.R. and Hooper, S., 2019. Consent to treatment in the Post-Montgomery era: principles and implications for the dental team. Primary dental journal, 8(2), pp.40-48.

Field, J., Spencer, R., Johnson, I. and Cure, R., 2020. Professional standards in dental education. British Dental Journal, 228(11), pp.875-881.

Gormley, M., Collins, L., Schofield, S. and Neville, P., 2021. Exploring the impact of digital professionalism awareness training on dental undergraduate students. European Journal of Dental Education, 25(2), pp.271-281.

Holden, A.C.L., 2017. Dentistry's social contract and the loss of professionalism. Australian dental journal, 62(1), pp.79-83.

Kowalski, C.J., Hutchinson, R.J. and Mrdjenovich, A.J., 2017, January. The ethics of clinical care and the ethics of clinical research: Yin and yang. In The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine (Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 7-32). Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc..

Lee, H.J., Bae, S.M., Choi, Y.K., Kwak, S.H., Kim, H.S., Kim, H.J., Lim, K.O., Lim, H.J., Jang, S.O., Han, Y.K. and Shin, B.M., 2020. Development and evaluation of standards for clinical dental hygiene practice. Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene, 20(5), pp.717-731.

Leuter, C., Petrucci, C., Caponnetto, V., La Cerra, C. and Lancia, L., 2018. Need for ethics support in clinical practice and suggestion for an Ethics Consultation Service: views of Nurses and Physicians working in Italian Healthcare Institutions. Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanita, 54(2), pp.117-125.

O'Brien, M.B., Ashley Copus, R.D.H. and Julia Johnson, R.D.H., 2019. Examining the Impact of Dental Hygienists' Professional Appearance: Patients' and dental student providers' perspectives. Journal of Dental Hygiene (Online), 93(4), pp.33-43.

Ramaswamy, V., 2019. The patient management and professionalism scale to assess dental students’ behavior in clinic. Journal of dental education, 83(1), pp.94-102.

Snowden, M., Ellwood, F., McSherry, R., Halsall, J.P. and Hough, D., 2017. Clinical governance: a friend or foe to dental care practice in the UK?. International Journal of Perceptions in Public Health, 1(2), pp.112-120.

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