A South African review by Basson (2012) highlights that consequences of burnout include;
impaired performance, fatigue, a decline in the dentist-patient connection and a deterioration of professional relationships.
This mild sentence on page 15 of an interesting article I read brought to mind those times over the years when I have been wondering ' What's the matter with my dentist? Is he/she just having a bad day? Is this unethical? Why are they not caring about our patient? Why are they trying to force me to do something non-compliant? Why are they being so unreasonable, I am only trying my best to help'.
I realise with hindsight that several may have been emotionally exhausted/burned-out (at risk of falling into genuine depression).
Right from day 1 tried to take care of my patients as very best I could, I never gave my dentist a second thought (they seem almost superhuman). But over time I have realised they can make mistakes and appreciate a nurse who knows what's going on and will quietly alert them of a problem. Discreetly - best for the patient to retain the impression their dentist is 100% infallible.
Most of the problems looked at are identical for dental nurses. Many such studies have been conducted on workplace stress leading to mental & physical health problems of dentists/doctors/nurses but dental nurses seem invisible. Working as support staff I myself am completely unsupported unless lucky enough to work for the NHS.
Next time I encounter a dentist who is being really mean to me or making mistakes I am going to approach this from a standpoint of 'are they experiencing work related stress' rather than 'why are they so horrible to me/uncaring to our patients'' Possible pointing out that I can also suffer workplace stress but we need to help each other, not fight each other.
On a personal level, I resist requests for longer hours ... a 40 hour week was established for a reason. If my performance is slips I am sure to hear about it! I am sure that most sharps injuries are due to plain old exhaustion. Compounded after the birth of each child due to me being more emotionally vulnerable as well as coping with a massive workload at home/disturbed nights.
I feel like I want to conduct a proper survey amongst dental nurses as our stories are anecdotal, therefore don't carry any weight.
Here's the link
bda.org/dentists/policy-campaigns/resear...%20Study%20Final.pdf
