Dental Implant Services

You, the potential dental consumer, should learn what exactly you are paying for, especially when you select pricy versus affordable dental implant care. You should also familiarize yourself with the facts that accurately identify successful outcomes for implant dental care.

Today, most research on the results of using specific brands or types of dental implants is done in university environments. Most of this research is funded by the companies, whose dental implants are being tested, creating a situation with obvious potential for conflict of interest. These studies are usually very short-lived and are designed to promote new implant products that the benefactor companies want to introduce to the dental market as soon as they can. These "self-serving studies" are largely of no value, except as a marketing tool.

When examining the costs of placing and restoring dental implants, it becomes apparent that the final cost of dental implant care by the dentist to you is determined in a very subjective manner. By subjective, I mean that the out-of-pocket expense for a dentist to purchase a dental implant, place it, and justSMILE restore it, is largely limited to:

1. The dentist's choice of materials.

2. Elective costs for direct and indirect forms of advertising decided upon by the dentist.

3. The dollar amount (click to Exhibit 2) that the dentist wants to charge for his or her time to complete a dental-implant-related service. This fee is based on what the dentist hopes to make in profit. It is a gut feeling and not necessarily based on competitive factors.

Bait-and-switch tactics are common in every industry, including dental implants. You should research the person who will be treating you, as well as their experience and outcomes.

I believe that the prudent consumer who is looking for dental implant care should educate themselves in order to make the best decisions when choosing the right person to take care of their implants, both now and in the future. Educated shopping is consumers' responsibility to themselves.

As a nursing supervisor, you are all too familiar with the basic (and often mandatory) inservice information presented to nursing assistants. At health care organizations across the U.S., CNAs sit through lessons on standard precautions, abuse and neglect, confidentiality and fire safety. Nutrition, pain management, and various disease processes are also common topics. Without question, these are all necessary inservices for nursing assistants.

However, to develop a team of top-notch CNAs, it's important to go beyond what is necessary or mandated. When you're trying fit inservice education around your already busy schedule, it can be difficult to come up with relevant topics. Here are some ideas for inservices that will get your nursing assistants thinking outside the box-and have a real impact on the quality of their client care.

1. Teach about Being Assertive

Assertive people are the best CNAs. They understand the difference between communicating passively, aggressively and assertively. They use assertiveness to deal with difficult situations and people. And, because they respect the rights of others without ignoring their own rights, they are excellent team players. Consider offering a "personal assertiveness" assessment to your nurse aides so they can gauge their communication style.

2. Examine Conflict in the Workplace

Try teaching your CNAs how to deal with on-the-job conflict. Provide them with practical tips for resolving conflict. Be sure to cover the dangers of gossip and bullying in the workplace and how they can handle conflicts with supervisors and clients. Armed with this information, your CNAs will focus less on "workplace politics" and more on the needs of their clients.

3. Discuss Maintaining Professional Distance

One of the toughest things for anyone in nursing is to provide TLC to clients without overstepping professional boundaries. A top-notch CNA can tell the difference between a personal and professional relationship and recognize the warning signs of a loss of professional distance. Giving an inservice on this issue will help your nursing assistants be caring without veering from the plan of care.

4. Promote the CNA/Nurse Relationship

The relationship between nurses, nursing assistants and physicians is evolving in the same way. Outstanding CNAs know the importance of assertive communication, delegation and mutual respect. They know how to give a great report, how to make the most of their performance review and how to work together with nurses as a team. Consider presenting this information to your CNAs and your nurses for a real boost to nursing teamwork.

5. Practice Time Management Skills

Why are some CNAs better than others at completing their work on time? Nursing assistants who are striving for excellence have learned to avoid time-wasters such as procrastination and a negative attitude. Teaching your CNAs how to set goals and prioritize their work and giving them practical tips will help them save time, whether they work in a facility of in the homes of clients.

Review the Normal Aging Process

During their initial training, nursing assistants are taught a few basic facts about the human anatomy. To improve their observational skills it is best to provide more information about the aging process. Try presenting information by body systems. Talk about the lifestyle choices that slow aging and those that speed it up-and remind your CNAs how they can help their elderly clients enjoy a good quality of life.

7. Discuss End of Life Care

CNAs must be able handle all aspects of life, even the dying process, to be exceptional. Give your aides information on the end of life, such as how to recognize symptoms that signal death is near, how to provide comfort for dying clients and their families and how to care for the body once death has occurred. Consider including information about death, cultural diversity, and the stages grief.

8. Brush Up on Mouth Care

Top-notch CNAs understand the importance and benefits of good oral hygiene and how it can affect not just the quality of their clients' lives, but also their overall health. How about presenting an inservice that goes beyond the mouth care protocol for your workplace? Give lots of tips on how to perform oral hygiene, deal with dentures, or watch for oral and dental issues.

9. Explore Basic Human Needs

Give your nursing assistants a brief overview of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to help them develop their empathy. Review the five levels of human needs and how they relate to one another. Also, discuss how illness can affect a person's position in the Hierarchy. With a greater understanding of what makes people "tick", your aides will excel at providing holistic, client-centered care.

10. Talk about Cost-Efficient Care

While cost-efficiency is always important in health care, it's especially vital in today's economy. Plan an inservice that provides practical tips for how nursing assistants can save money throughout their daily client care. Be sure to cover how to minimize waste and how time management, healthcare associated infections and medical errors affect the bottom line. CNAs who are at the top of their game know that saving money now will lead to better working conditions in the future.

Try incorporating some of these topics into your inservice schedule to see what happens. When inservice education goes above and beyond the norm, it spurs critical thinking, enhances the quality of client care, and encourages professionalism on the part of your aides.