Disparities In Dental Education

990 Words2 Pages

1.0 Introduction
Relationships amongst several stakeholders in health care including practitioners, patients and other health care pro¬fessionals, are in a constant state of flux. Several external forces continue to shape the oral health professions including; changing demands for oral health care products and services; therapeutic options that lead to new therapeutic end points; direct marketing of dental and medical products to consumers; the ability of dental consumers to access and assess health information. (RS Taichman). Other challenges include: the need for cultural competence, need for patient safety, and ability to understand team dynamics and address oral health disparities.( Elsbeth Kalenderian). Dentists are called upon to manage …show more content…

Each field presents its own set of problems. Current challenges in dental education include declining financial support in the face of high, escalating costs; high student debt; faculty shortages; an outdated, irrelevant curriculum; and a frustrating environment for learning and patient care and perceived commercialization of dental education(K ROTH). Epidemiological data has also highlighted targeted disparities in the oral health of low-income and minority children, the elderly, and individuals with mental retardation and other disabilities and special health needs (mouridan). While a large population of dentists are solo practitioners, group practices are emerging and there is a need for dentists to develop strong leadership, negotiation and collaborative skills(Nalliah). Clinicians are primarily trained in clinical expertise but are eventually required to assume management responsibilities, Thus, sophisticated leadership skills, attitudes, and abilities are necessary to navigate the clinician manager role successfully. (Forbes, Hallier, and Kelly …show more content…

The viewpoint of what leadership means is an area of considerable debate. Leadership has been considered an activity, not a position and may even be fleeting, in-the-moment interventions. Thus, leadership in dental education means mobilizing others to make progress on difficult issues.(cohen)
Leadership entails the effective communication of a vision (whether shared or not) and an honest and in-depth evaluation of collective experiences and/ or available data so that organizational change may occur in a rational manner. (RS TAichman 3). A collaborative, shared leadership style,(willcocks) with core concepts including leadership as a trait, leadership as an ability, leadership as a skill, leadership as a behaviour and leadership as a relationship has been advocated as a suitable definition of leadership in dentistry (northouse and willcocks)
Though frequently clubbed together, differences between leadership and management exist which need to be noted. The core difference is that leadership is focused on vision and management is focused on implementation. Thus, in effect, management skills are a subset of leadership skills. (Imboden)

How to go about developing leadership

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