Dental research needs you

In a new series of articles, Professor Bob Ireland introduces the concept of research and makes it clear that there is not only a place for dental nurses to undertake it, but also a huge need. Fiona Ellwood will speak with first-hand experience of undertaking research as a dental nurse. She outlines some of the challenges but, more importantly, discusses how it can encourage wider thinking.

Professor Bob Ireland asks: ‘Have you thought about undertaking some research?’

It is often thought that dental nurses don’t have a role to play in furthering research. This is so far from the truth. You play a key role in the dental team and have many opportunities to contribute to the body of dental research – with respect to clinical activity or more broadly in patient or practice management. However, there are some important considerations in that if the proposed research involves patients in treatment they are not usually part of, the research proposal has to be submitted to an Ethics Committee. This can be a problem if the researcher (i.e. you) is not affiliated to a research organisation, such as a university, or cannot access an NHS research Ethics Committee. However, it is still possible to undertake many research studies that would not normally require ethical committee approval. Examples of thiswould normally include questionnaire studies of either patients or staff, patient case reports describing treatment that was perhaps innovative or unusual and may have been either successful or unsuccessful, the reporting of a significant event (adverse or otherwise) or many other aspects of practice or clinic organisation or management. It is particularly valuable to include your role as a dental nurse in any research project undertaken.