Management and Communication in dental medicine

Courses within the discipline:

The mission of these disciplines is to promote and develop an interdisciplinary collaboration for identifying and evaluating student behavior, identifying the vulnerabilities of future graduates of Dentistry at the professional component, as managers of the dental practice, but also those related to the legal component of dental practice, and in particular, techniques for avoiding situations of malpractice.

At the discipline and department level, a strong value system is promoted, which includes:

• interdisciplinary approach – we encourage collaboration between professionals and organizations actively involved in initiatives in the field of dental management, ethical and legislative issues and communication in dental practice, public health in general and oral health in particular and basic research.
•  empathy / receptivity to the problems of the university community – the social intelligence promoted by those who work within the discipline represents an externally oriented dimension of competencies and includes sense of situation, presence, attitude, empathy; community priorities are a central position in the discipline’s approach and policies.
• clarity / transparency – all actions will be launched to achieve the proposed goal and objectives, and any intervention from those involved in the field of public health and other areas of interest is evaluated, to obtain constructive feedback.
• integrity / fairness – we believe that the actions initiated by the members of the department must be based on components of emotional intelligence, such as social conscience, common sense, objectivity, fairness, honesty, and reality management.
• rigor – the steps organized by the members of the department we consider should focus on achieving the proposed goal and objectives and keeping promises and commitments.

Competitive dental medical practice imposes management as a priority. Dental management is in no way comparable or assimilated to a set of marketing techniques to sell more, earn more money, manipulate, or deceive patients. The relationship with the patient, often seen as a “client” or “consumer of health”, is in fact an internal component of the office and not one of the facades.    Unfortunately, some of us have lost the essentials: the notion of “trust” that cements the relationship between doctor and patient. This is not only a subjective concept of minimum morality, but it is also, above all, legally framed (Dentist’s Code of Ethics). Management is not a notion or a charming endeavor. This is at least an additional amount of work when we are in the phase of implementing a change management or reorganization necessary for a quality approach. Management is a set of universal rules that every dentist needs to know, but the most important thing they need to learn is to adapt to the medical and human specifics of their dental practice. This is where the role of “Management Consulting” should be defined, which teaches the practitioner how to adapt to the theories and practices of managing infrastructure and human resources in a dental practice.

The most difficult part for a manager, who deals with the management and control of the dental office is the harmonization of the following parameters: technical level, specialty (if applicable), legislation, ethics and professional ethics, medical and professional degree, expertise in team management, profile human resources competencies (technical, behavioral and relational motivational levers), its development objectives, and above all, the articulation with its proactive decisions and the vision of its cabinet.

The medical office is defined as a unit with or without legal personality, “providers of public, state or private services, preventive, curative recovery and emergency human care.”

The mission of a practice expresses the purpose for which it was created, its reason in relation to the market of health services and implicitly with established or potential patients. By defining the mission, the intentional elements, the specific groups of patients, the existing basic needs, as well as the own performances of the office are specified. In essence, the mission of a cabinet is limited to a positive result that is desired to be obtained in the future by the health structure, aiming at:

• conclusive results on patients (quality of services, degree of satisfaction);
• substantial internal performances registered by the medical team (professional, financial material).

 The practice of the firm includes the formulation, application, and cumulative observance of the following principles:

• adopting an impeccable ethical and moral attitude towards patients and members of the medical team.
• knowledge, interpretation, observance, and application of the legal regulations in force.
• establishing and observing a judicious work program with patients (consultations, treatments), as well as emergency resolution.
• the correct dimensioning of the time fund necessary for the patients, for the administration of the scheduled therapeutic acts, by providing high-performance medical care and the minimization of the expectations.
• limiting the professional activity, strictly at the level of the practice areas and of the acquired specializations.
• avoiding the occurrence of complications, by respecting the principles of hygiene, as well as their control and monitoring in the event of occurrence.
• implementation of viable payment plans for health services for all categories of patients.
• inclusion in the program of some community activities (health education, development of care, detection and prevention of dent maxillary anomalies);
• maintaining and increasing the qualitative performances of the health services, at the level of “excellence”, through the training and development of the staff, endowment with equipment, instruments, medicines and use of modern techniques and procedures.

The activities and functions of the management are carried out in a certain succession, which gives the management its procedural characteristic. Relating to objectives through several strategic and tactical options, the complementarity between planning and control, together with motivational strategies give the current concept of management a dynamic character.

Teaching objectives

• Integration within the university teaching staff.
• Accommodation with the legislative component of the dental medical activity, but also teachers and documents to be known by students, teachers, and as future practitioners.
• Adapting and improving one’s own teaching performance.
• Adapting the teaching-evaluation techniques to the specifics of the disciplines, as well as the degree of interest of the students.
• Applying the principles of adult education in combination with modern psycho-pedagogical methods, and experiential learning in training.
• Improving the didactic strategies of teaching-acquisition of knowledge, formation of skills and habits, systematization, and recapitulation of knowledge.
• Designing courses in accordance with the performance standards of the teaching subject.
• Systematic elaboration of planning on topics.
• Elaboration of efficient methods and techniques for evaluating the taught subject and analyzing the way in which they can be applied.

 Active and efficient participation, by getting involved in the programs developed by the U.M.F. „Victor Babeş” Timişoara;

Increasing the prestige of the U.M.F. „Victor Babeş” Timişoara by participating in international congresses, carrying out independent research projects or in collaboration with specialized institutions from abroad, but also carrying out in good conditions the interdisciplinary collaboration contracts.