Am I being unfairly treated, feel like leaving for another job :(

Hi Rose1
In the Practice i work in the dentist writes their own notes,, they all have templates which they tweak for each patient.
The way i see it is are they cleaning down and setting up the for the next pt Ermm No, so they do their notes..
its such a shame you haven't been supported in your nursing,

I have worked as a dental nurse for almost 20yrs and have also just returned to a new job after maternity leave. My advice would be to try and resolve the situation with your work then if nothing improves look for a job elsewhere. It can be scary leaving a workplace if it's all you've known but you never know what opportunities a new practice could bring. Life's too short ! I've met so many nurses who work or have worked in unhappy practices it's not worth it, especially if your now juggling family life and work life. Also I have occasionally written notes for dentists but most have done their own. After all it's their responsibility. I hope things become better for you .

Hi Rose for one you are being discriminated against as you have a learning disability. I am a Dental Tutor, head nurse and self employed locum with 27 years experience. I have only worked in one practice in my career we’re the nurse was expected to write notes, treatment plans? Charting yes though not text writing. For a college to say a course isn’t for you due to dyslexia is against the rules putting it mildly!! Everyone should be treated equally and all diversity catered for this is a colleges DUTY as you as a learner?! As for Work I would complain to the GDC and find a new job, trust me good nurses like you are in short supply!!

I am really sorry to hear that you are feeling this way. There are lots of custom screens that should be able to help you with the notes so your dyslexia should not affect the clinical notes, plus it is the clinicians responsibility to check them. Management have a duty to help you develop, not hold you back. Do you have appraisal scheme at your practice? I would suggest that you speak with management asap as they may not really know how motivated you are and may need reminded to put other systems in place to support you. Being put into the decontamination room because of dyslexia is completely unacceptable as this does not affect your dental nursing ability.

As far as I’m aware the clinical notes are the dentists responsibility! If this is the case then they are discriminating against you because of your learning difficulties. I would take this to Human Resources or further if you can, try and do as much as you can to get your surgery time back. I know how it feels to be stuck in the deacon room doing jobs that no one else wants to do.
If you dont write any clinical notes for the dentist and something happens e.g. a complaint, I’m pretty sure this would not affect you or be blamed on you because it’s up to the dentist to write their own notes. I thought that if a dentist worked with a nurse that wrote their notes up they just got lucky? I could be wrong but I’m sure this is how it works.

Sorry I forgot to mention that I have been helping with a hygienist the last few months too, but as that just involves suction and not much else it is very tedious and feel like I'm losing skills I once had.

A quick break down of my circumstances.

Worked as a dental nurse for about 15 years.

I am registered via the 'grandparent' scheme.

I attempted the NVQ qualification years ago for dental nursing but unfortunately due to my dyslexia/learning difficulties when it comes to writing I was advised by college staff that the course wasn't for me.

Despite my lack of qualifications and struggles when it comes to writing / note taking I have always been complimented as being a very good nurse otherwise, hard working and thorough.

I have been at my current employer for almost ten years and despite being the odd ups and downs I am still a loyal member of the team and one of the original staff members.

After having our first child about 5 years ago I went on maternity leave and returned to work only working a couple of days a week. This worked out fine and seemed beneficial to all parties.

However over the last year or so my role at the practice seems to have taken a back seat, and I rarely get to work in the surgery any more for chairside nursing care, the main reason being the dentists now expect nurses to write up patient notes and prepare treatment plans. I was never expected to this before and the dentist's used to do it themselves.

I am now stuck pretty much in the decontamination room all day and tend to just clean the surgery and practice. It's very demoralising!

I've spoke to the practice owner/head dentist and manager, but they say that even though I'm a valued member of staff that things have now changed and I can no longer work in the surgery as these written admin tasks that I find difficult are now required.

What's also got me down is that they have also said that most other practices demand this now so the situation would be the same everywhere else.

I feel stuck and it's horrible to feel that once again my learning difficulties have once again been an issue to stop me enjoying my work.

Is it true many other dentist's expect the nurse to write up notes etc? How common is it now?

Is this a case of me being forced out because of what is pretty much a disability in a way?

I'm not quite sure what to do and would appreciate some advice from my peers?

Thank you

(I've had some help writing this out)