IDA's Technical Committee sets out the standards of conduct, performance and ethics that governs you as a dental professional according to its standards. It specifies the principles, standards and guidance which apply to all members of the dental team. It also sets out what patients can expect from their dental professionals.
It sets out 15 minimum standards which must apply to all areas of your work as a dental professional. A dental practice can be awarded accreditation after demonstrating it meets Standards 1– 15 of IDA Dental Practice Accreditation Technical Committee.
The patient centric standard mention 9 principles which are your responsibility to follow, using your judgement in the light of them. The guidance says: ‘Put patients ’interests first and act to protect them.’ If you believe that patients might be at risk because of your health, behavior or professional performance, or that of a colleague, or because of any aspect of the clinical environment, you should take action.
The Technical Committee has also formulated practice guidelines to assist dental practices assess their compliance with IDA Standards. Guidelines and policies contains resources to assist dental practices prepare for accreditation. besides this we also offer toolkits for dental practice support. It is intended that these materials assist dental practices to engage in continuous quality improvement activities.
Dentistry – expectations, yours and ours. Minimum standards ensure that patients receive consistently high quality care and treatment. All dental professional should abide by these standards.
The standards can be used to help the public decide which dental service to choose. These outline the quality of service the public can expect.
These standards deliberately differ in format from other independent healthcare standards. There are several reasons for this. The standards are targeted at patients and the profession. It is important that the standards are presented in a format and language that are readily understood by patients, yet are still relevant to the professional.
These standards seek to achieve a commonality of good dental practice driven from patient perceptions and expectations. They set out what can be expected of the professionals who provide dental services and they can be used to assess the performance of dental services. The standards have been categorised under the corresponding quality theme:
Patient centric standard sets out the standards of conduct, performance and ethics that govern a dental professional. It specifies the principles, standards and guidance. It also sets out what patients can expect from their dental professionals.
The core ethical principles of practice. There are nine principles registered dental professionals must keep to at all times. As a IDA accredited dental professional member you must:
The principles are all equally important and are not listed in order of priority. They are supplemented by additional guidance documents which are in form of guidelines and which you must also follow. The dental team has an individual responsibility to behave professionally and follow these principles at all times.
The standards set out what dental professionals must do to ensure patient expectations are met. Standards for the Dental Team applies to:
The practice guidelines mentioned in the following section help to meet the standards. The dental team is expected to follow the guidance, use their professional judgment, demonstrate insight at all times and be able to justify any decision that is not in line with the guidance.
