Prevention and management of caries in general dental practice (PMC)
This project was a CSO funded initiative, developed and conducted by NHS Education for Scotland, University of Dundee, University of Aberdeen, University of Glasgow, University College London and the Childsmile Programme.
The study was developed in response to routine evaluation of caries guidance recommendations within TRiaDS (see Prevention and Management of Caries in Children) which demonstrated no change in the prevention and management of caries (PMC) practice before or after guidance publication and continued provision of practices that were not evidence-based or recommended in guidance.
The study evaluated the barriers and facilitators to recommended PMC care at patient, organisation (practice), and system (policy) levels. Using a mixed methods design comprising a national survey, review of routinely collected data, in depth practice case studies, focus groups, and interviews, factors influencing care were assessed at each level. Patient, practice, and policy findings were integrated into a single framework to determine priority barriers and facilitators and related theoretical domains. Using the Theoretical Domains Framework, relevant intervention strategies were identified and prioritised in a workshop with key stakeholders including patient, practice, and policy representatives. Subsequent work to trial the interventions from the stakeholder workshop is ongoing.
This study is now complete and the full findings are available in Implementation Science (PDF) [1].
A poster (PDF) [2] presenting the study findings was presented at the Healthcare Improvement Scotland symposium, Mobilising evidence to drive improvement, in March 2016.
Publications and presentations
- Templeton, A.R et al. Patient-, organization-, and system-level barriers and facilitators to preventive oral health care: a convergent mixed-methods study in primary dental care. Implementation Science (2016) 11:5 (PDF)
- Cassie, H. et al. Understanding the systems, organisational and patient barriers and facilitators to quality improvement in primary dental care: Prevention and management of dental caries (PDF) Poster presented at the Healthcare Improvement Scotland Symposium: Mobilising evidence to drive improvement, Edinburgh (2016, March)