Dentaline nurses

Job responsibilities

1. Communication and relationship skills

A dental nurse must ensure a professional and ethical level of communication and confidentiality in their sessional activities in the following areas:

Internal

• DentaLine clinic staff
• DentaLine head office
• DentaLine management
• DentaLine call centre staff
• Other DentaLine clinics

External

• Duty dentists
• Patients/relatives/carers
• Other trusts/hospital staff in place of work

The post holder must:

• Work closely with the duty dentist ensuring the treatment plans are understood so that preparations can take place, following instruction by the duty dentist as necessary.
• Help maintain patients comfort and dignity at all times and give basic advice and reassurance to patients and clients especially where there may be communication difficulties.
• Provide compassion and support to the patient during and after treatments, making them feel at ease.
• Liaise with the clinic co-ordinator to ascertain when and how many patients may be waiting to be treated.
• Liaise with the clinic co-ordinator when treatments are more lengthy than anticipated.
• Liaise with clinic co-ordinator if patient needs referral to other treatment providers.
• Inform clinic co-ordinator of any equipment failures or any problems that cannot wait until the next working day
• Inform the lead nurse and or administration team during office hours of any issues that may arise and have a detrimental effect on service provision.
• Liaise with the lead nurse to improve working procedures.
• Attend all team meetings when necessary to discuss our existing procedures and future plans for service.

1. Knowledge, training and experienc

The post holder should:

• Hold the NEBDN Certificate in Dental Nursing/NVQ Level 3 City & Guilds in Oral Health Care, plus knowledge and experience of a range of dental procedures.
• Maintain General Dental Council Registration.
• Maintain clinical skills and knowledge base throughout professional career.
• Maintain relevant statutory and Mandatory Training.
• Work as part of a team, demonstrating flexibility in a changing environment.
• Have a flexible approach to working hours, inclusive of working Bank holidays/Easter Day /Christmas Day and be available at short notice to cover sessions.
• Flexibility to work in all DentaLine Clinics/Dental Departments inclusive of Salaried Dental Services during the daytime when required.
• Work within pre-defined guidelines.
• Clinical supervision where the service deems necessary and or appropriate

1. Analytical and judgement skills

The post holder should:

• Act on own initiative where required guided by service policies/protocols in the absence of another clinic team member.
• Anticipate the requirements of the clinician and be prepared for eventualities such as medical emergencies and equipment failure.
• Must know when to take prompt action in a range of emergency clinical and non-clinical procedures and situations, guided by service policies/protocols.
• Anticipate individual patient emergency needs

1. Planning and organisational skills

The post holder should:

• Prepare the dental surgery before the start of the session in line with agreed protocols and adhering to infection control policies and procedures.
• Receive and prepare patients for treatment.
• Processing and mounting of radiographs; all radiographs to be taken by the duty dentist in accordance with Ionising Radiation Medical Exposure Regulations. (IRMER)
• Ensure that dental instruments are decontaminated appropriately in accordance to service policies/protocols and in a timely manner.
• Ensure the surgery is cleaned and decontaminated in a timely manner prior to the next patients treatment ensuring the services policies / protocols are followed at all times.
• Ensure at the end of the session that the surgery is cleaned and decontaminated following service policies and protocols.
• Ensure that service training needs are met by planning other commitments in order to attend.
• Ensure accuracy when recording and charting treatment plans within the R4 appointment system

1. Physical skills

The post holder will be expected to:

• Walk to waiting room to receive and retrieve patients.
• On occasions work with limited scope for movement during treatments, whilst sitting/standing for long periods of time.
• On occasions make repetitive movements during treatment.
• Be required to twist and bend whilst treating patients in order to maintain a good line of sight throughout treatment.
• On occasions lift pharmaceutical chests, whose weight will not exceed 4kg.
• Some sites permit to push a chest high drugs trolley from one room to another at the start and end of sessions

1. Responsibility for patient / client care

The post holder will have some responsibility for direct patient/client care in the following:

• To care for the patient during treatments by offering compassion and understanding to make them feel at ease.
• Ensure the patients are given appropriate pharmacy leaflets where applicable.
• Following guidance from the duty dentist, to give post-operative advice following an extraction or following treatment to traumatised teeth.
• Observing the patients condition throughout treatment.
• To give support to the duty dentist should a medical emergency arise.
• To complete the patients treatment and hand over to the clinic co-ordinator, advising them of patients treatment and any post op care

1. Responsibility for policy and service development implementation

The post holder will be:

• Responsible for ensuring all implemented policies, procedures and guidelines within the Organisation and DentaLine service are adhered to within their own area of work.
• To ensure patient confidentiality and Data Protection is adhered to at all times.

1. Responsibilities for financial and physical resources

The post holder will have limited responsibility for financial and physical resources but will be asked to complete the following:

• On occasions receiving payments from patients and issuing receipts.
• On occasions ensure reconciliation of payments are correct at the end of every session.
• On occasions prepare finance for banking.
• On occasions maintain a cash float.
• On occasions ordering of dental materials and equipment when required, following service guidelines.

1. Responsibilities for human resources (HR)

The post holder may be asked to undertake the following:

• To help the service to integrate new team members ensuring that protocols and procedures are adhered to at all times

1. Responsibilities for information resources

The post holder will have no overall responsibility for information resources.

1. Responsibilities for research and development (R&D)

The post holder has limited responsibility for research and development in the following areas:

• Ensuring Radiography audits are completed correctly with guidance from the duty dentist and in accordance to Service policies and procedures.
• Ensuring paper audits are stored in accordance to set policies and sent back to the administration office following the correct guidelines.

1. Freedom to act

The post holder should:

• Be able to prioritise own workload and act independently to ensure that all aspects of patient care is of the highest standard.
• Work within Service guidelines and be governed by the policies and procedures outlined by the Organisation.

Qualifications

Essential

• Hold an awarded NEBDN Certificate in Dental Nursing/NVQ Level 3 City & Guilds in Oral Health Care or recognized equivalent.
• Inclusion on the GDC Register
• Evidence of Continuing Personal Development

Desirable

• Hold a valid Certificate in Basic Life Support.

Experience

Essential

• Experience in working in a busy Dental Team.
• Experience working with various different dentists.

Desirable

• Working in an Emergency Dental environment.
• Previous NHS Dental Experience

Special knowledge / expertise

Essential

• Knowledge of Emergency Dental treatments
• Demonstrate a good knowledge of the latest Department of Health Decontamination Memorandum

Desirable

• Experience in previous NHS policies and procedures

Disposition, adjustment, attit

Essential

• Ability to adapt to working with different members of the team.
• Flexible approach to working sessions
• Ability to work at short notice when necessary.
• Ability to adapt to an ever changing Service.
• Ability to work as part of a productive Dental team.

Practical / intellectual skill

Essential

• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent inter-personal skills
• Excellent organisational skills including ability to prioritise own workload
• Ability to handle difficult situations and work under pressure.
• Ability to work within defined guidelines
• Maintain clinical skills throughout professional career

MCH values

Essential

• Caring and compassionate
• Working in partnership
• Delivering quality and value

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).