Organisation: NSW Health
Job Title: Dental Assistant Grade 1
Word Limit: Agreed on approximately ½ page per point
Location: Various
- Certificate 3 in Dental Assisting (or recognised equivalent), or adequate relevant experience as a Dental Assistant
Since the successful completion of my Certificate III in Dental Assisting from Cooloola Sunshine Institute of TAFE in 2005, I have work consistently as a Dental Assistant in both Government and private practice. This experience has included working in schools with children, with adults and with mentally ill patients, all of which have their own challenges. Currently working for Queensland Health, a department of the Government of Queensland, I work mostly within a school dental van alongside a Dental Technician and we travel to metropolitan and rural schools to both treat and educate children on dental health.
As an efficient Dental Assistant, I am autonomous in my work ensuring all equipment is ready and sterilised for the Dental Technician, assisting in treating children as well as undertaking bookings and other administrative tasks. Along with my experience within the dental van, I have also undertaken roles in adult clinics, dental hospitals and Government run clinics as required. My skills and experience along with my efficient working manner mean my expertise will make a positive contribution to any Dental Assistant role.
- Detailed knowledge of infection control procedures in a Dental Clinic setting
My expert knowledge of infection control procedures has stemmed from my formal training and over 11 years of experience in Dental Clinic settings. I ensure I follow the standard operating procedures for infection control, the key components being sterilisation of equipment and tools, knowing the difference between clean and dirty areas, hand washing skills and frequency, always supplying to the patient the appropriate personal protective equipment and wearing the required personal protective equipment.
No matter who the patient is, I follow the same strict infection control procedures, ensuring all surfaces and equipment are ready to be used when a patient comes in for their appointment. Specifically, before the patients comes in for their appointment, I wash my hands, ensure I put on my personal protective equipment, wipe the chair and surrounding surfaces down, starting from the dirtiest areas and working to the cleanest, obtain sterilised equipment from the sterile area and place them out as required, checking their sticker colour to ensure they are sterile and contain the correct dates.
When the patient comes in, I give them a bib and safety glasses to wear for their safety and put on my mask, gloves and glasses. I ensure I do not touch non-clean areas with my gloves on, and if I do, change my gloves accordingly. Part of this process is to ensure the correct cleaning solutions are being used at the correct ratios. After the patient leaves, I ensure all sharps are in the sharps bin, take everything to the sterilisation area, clean the chair and do a visual check to ensure that there is no blood spatters anywhere, before starting the process over again.
Every year I have been assessed on my infection control skills and compliance and have successfully passed each year. Ensuring infection control is managed is important for both the patient and staff as part of workplace health and safety, and my actions are bound by the standard operating procedures and code of conduct.
- Written and oral communication skills, including demonstrated appropriate telephone manner and public relations skills
I possess excellent communication and negotiation skills, including over the phone and in person. In my current role, I manage all of the communications with schools over the phone, including negotiating days and times to attend and booking appointments for the children. This requires an organised approach and the ability to explain that we do not know how long we will be on site. In addition, I need to communication via phone with the business service centre, which holds all of the students’ dental records. We need to be able to access and add to these records whilst on site, and again need to ensure we have all of the ones we require.
In person, I communicate with children and parents each and every day and can adapt my communication style depending on my audience. Children will often attend the van feeling nervous about what might happen. My job is to calmly talk to them about what exactly we are going to do and how they might feel. For most children, this approach is enough for them to allow us access to do our jobs, however for some children (and parents), a more proactive approach is necessary.
As an example, I recently had a child who had a fair degree of anxiety about coming to see us; however I calmly talked him into lying down on the chair. At that point, his mother said something to me about an Orthodontist. The child immediately sat up and got out of the chair, worried about what we were going to do. I spent some time with the child, letting him touch things in the van and calmly talking to him about the fact that we just wanted to count his teeth and have a look at how healthy they were and eventually he let us do our job. Providing continual reassurance in these cases is the best way to get everyone through the procedure with no problems.
My experience in public relations extends to working within a QLD Government oral health promotion van, where I attended the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Day, but also a large range of schools and other events. This van was set up to educate our audience about oral health as well as diet and healthy lunch box packing for parents.
- Demonstrated practical skills with Microsoft Word, and accurate data entry skills
My practical computer skills are of a high standard, particularly in relation to using Microsoft (MS) Word and Excel, and in data entry of information into children’s and adults’ dental records. I use MS Word every day in my role, including writing correspondence, newsletters for schools, draft emails and a significant number of assignments and papers for my university studies. I have a good understanding of its functions, including formatting of documents and word processing skills. Within Microsoft Excel, I am able to create and maintain spreadsheets and database information, including the child dental benefit scheme receipts, which are in Excel format. In addition, I use Excel for checklists of students, and recording children who might require follow up appointments for orthodontic care.
My database skills are mainly used in updating the ISOH program, which holds all of our appointment bookings and student medical records. This program requires accurate and efficient use and to ensure accuracy, I print out reports every week identifying any missing information. If I find any information missing, I go back to the paper record and update this accordingly. The item number records are particularly important, as they determine the funding our department receives based on numbers of children seen and treated.
Other programs and applications I use routinely include x-ray programs for dental x-rays, the Medicare online environment and the downloading of things like material safety data sheets from the Internet.
- Experience with, or ability to deal with challenging situations and/or clients
As well as working with children, I have previously worked in a prison’s mental health ward as a Dental Assistant, where I obtained significant experience working in challenging situations and found I can confidently undertake my role successfully in all conditions. This clinic was only held once per week, so even though inmates may have been in pain for a few days they had to wait until we attended. Because of this, some of them were agitated and just wanted their tooth taken out.
Patients were brought to us by guards, and I needed to triage the patients and let them know we were there to help get them relief from pain. One example was a man who came in swearing and yelling as he was in pain. He told me he just wanted us to rip his tooth out. I calmly spoke to the man and explained that we would like to take an x-ray of the tooth to see why it was giving him pain. Whilst the man was convinced that we were only doing this so that we didn’t have to help him, he reluctantly agreed to have the x-ray. On the x-ray, I was able to show him that instead of taking out the tooth, we would be able to fill the hole and he would be pain free, and still have his tooth. The man agreed after seeing the x-ray and once it was done, happy to be not in pain any more. Often by using the visual of the x-ray, even challenging patients could see that we were trying to help and they didn’t have to lose another tooth.
My belief is that the most important thing to do with all patients is to listen to them, before assuming we know what the issue might be. This way, they feel validated and will normally proceed to treatment with no problems.
- Demonstrated flexibility with work duties and location
My flexibility with both duties and locations has been demonstrated within my current role. Normally, I work in the dental van and travel to a range of locations to see school children. This includes travelling within the West Morton district mainly, and going to whichever school we have been designated.
However if my Dental Technician is ill or not available on a particular day, I am reassigned to others duties. I am more than capable of working in a large range of areas, including different procedures, orthodontics, general dentistry and implants and I have a work ethic which makes me efficient and effective in whichever environment I am allocated. For example, last week my Dental Technician in the van was off work due to illness so I was reallocated to the Ipswich main clinic. However when I arrived there, they asked me to get in a car and go the Laidley Adult Clinic where I worked for the day. I am more than happy to do this, and it means I gain extra experience from a range of workplaces and technicians.
- Understanding and commitment to teamwork and willingness to be a contributing and effective team member
My understanding and commitment to teamwork in the dental assistant environment is being competent and efficient to perform my individual job properly and in doing so, supporting other team members to achieve the overall goal. Working in the dental van with my Dental Technician, we need to be able to work together seamlessly to ensure patients are treated well and in a timely manner. My aim is to predict what the technician will need in advance and ensure that item is available when he needs it. During procedures, I will often ask the technician if I can help him doing certain things, or suggest which tools he may require. Having worked together since January 2015, we have an excellent team environment that enables us to provide excellent dental services to clients.
Being an effective team member when assigned to another clinic or van is a more challenging prospect, however I often start my day by asking how they run their day, checking out all the drawers and equipment to see where equipment is stored and looking at cleaning duties to see what was done the day before. Once I have done this, I am more able to support the Dental Technicians in their roles and therefore contribute to the team.
- Current drivers licence
I possess a current driver’s licence.
