Dental Implant Services

You, as a potential dental consumer, need to know what you are paying for. This is especially true when you choose expensive dental implant care over affordable dental implants. 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. The majorities of these studies are very short in duration, and exist primarily to promote the new implant products benefactor companies are anxious to bring to the dental marketplace as soon as possible. These types of "self-serving" studies are of little value except for marketing.

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 restore it, is largely limited to:

1. The dentist's choice of materials.

2. The dentist may elect to charge for advertising costs, both direct and indirect.

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 essentially based upon what the dentist wants to make as 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. Other common topics include nutrition, pain management and a variety of disease processes. Without question, these are all necessary inservices for nursing assistants.

To develop a team that is top-notch, it is important to go above and beyond what's required or mandated. Coming up with pertinent topics can be a challenge when you're trying to fit inservice education into your already packed schedule. 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. They are also excellent team players because they respect others' rights without ignoring theirs. Consider presenting an inservice that includes a "personal assertiveness assessment" so that your nurse aides can gauge their current communication style.

2. Examine Conflict at Work

Teach your CNAs to handle conflict on the job. Give them practical tips on how to resolve conflict. Make sure you discuss the dangers of bullying and gossip in the workplace, and how to handle conflicts with clients and supervisors. With this information, CNAs can focus less on "workplace political issues" and more on their clients' needs.

3. Discuss Maintaining a Professional Distance

It is difficult for nurses to maintain professional boundaries while providing TLC to their clients. 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

In the same way that the relationship between nurses and physicians continues to evolve, so does the relationship between nurses and nursing assistants. Outstanding CNAs understand the importance of delegation, assertive communication 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 sharing this information with your CNAs and nurses to boost 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. Help your CNAs become time savers by teaching them about setting goals and priorities and providing them with practical tips that help them work efficiently-whether they work in a facility or in clients' homes.

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

To be outstanding, CNAs justSMILE should be able to handle the full spectrum of life, including the dying process. 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

CNAs who are top-notch understand the importance of good oral health and how it can impact not only their clients' quality of life, but their overall health. How about presenting an inservice that goes beyond the mouth care protocol for your workplace? Give plenty of tips for performing oral hygiene, dealing with dentures, and observing for oral and dental problems.

9. Explore Basic Human Needs

Give your nursing assistants a brief overview of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to help them develop their empathy. During the inservice, review the five levels of basic human needs, how the levels relate to each other and how illness affects a person's place 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-effective care

In today's economy, cost-efficiency in health care is more important than ever. Plan an inservice that provides practical tips for how nursing assistants can save money throughout their daily client care. Make sure you cover how to reduce waste, how time management and healthcare-associated infections 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 is above and beyond what is expected, it encourages critical thinking and enhances client care. It also encourages professionalism from your aides.