Management and Communication in dental medicine

Course description:

1. Medical Communication: The Medical Communication discipline aims to develop the professional communication skills necessary for effective interaction with the patient, their relatives and the medical team, in specific contexts of dentistry, dental technology and dental prophylaxis assistance. The course emphasizes building the therapeutic relationship, using empathy, adapting the message to the patient’s level of understanding and the clear and ethical transmission of medical information, contributing to increasing the quality of the medical act.
2. Ethics and Academic Integrity, including Research Ethics: This course provides students with knowledge of academic ethics and the principles of research ethics in the field of medical sciences. It examines issues related to scientific integrity, researcher responsibility, respect for the rights of study participants, and the correct application of ethical norms in research and publication.
3. Ethics and Academic Integrity: The Ethics and Academic Integrity course addresses the fundamental ethical principles that govern academic and professional activity in the medical field. The course aims to develop responsible conduct based on honesty, respect for academic norms, prevention of plagiarism, and assumption of personal responsibility in the educational process and in future professional practice.
4. Dental Practice Management: The Dental Practice Management discipline provides theoretical and practical foundations for the efficient organization and administration of a dental practice. It addresses aspects related to planning activities, managing human, material, and information resources, the relationship with patients, as well as respecting the legal, ethical, and administrative framework specific to the medical field.
5. Organization of the Dental Laboratory: The Organization of the Dental Laboratory course focuses on the structure and functioning of the laboratory, emphasizing the organization of workflows and the management of technical activities. The discipline highlights the importance of effective collaboration with the dentist, compliance with professional standards and ensuring the quality of the prosthetic work performed.
6. Ergonomics and Dental Office Management: The Ergonomics and Dental Office Management discipline aims to develop the management skills necessary for the efficient organization of activities in the dental office. The emphasis is on team coordination, daily activity planning, and work process optimization, in order to increase the efficiency and functionality of the dental practice.
7. Entrepreneurship: The Dental Entrepreneurship course introduces fundamental concepts of entrepreneurship and management applied to the practice of dentistry. The course aims to develop the skills necessary to initiate, organize and manage a dental practice, addressing issues related to strategic planning, economic sustainability, professional responsibility and adaptation to the requirements of the competitive environment in the medical field.
8. Entrepreneurship Education in Dental Care: The Entrepreneurship Education in Dental Care discipline aims to develop entrepreneurial skills specific to the activity of the dental prophylaxis assistant. The course addresses basic notions regarding the organization of activities, resource management and the assistant’s involvement in the proper functioning of the dental office, contributing to the development of initiative, responsibility and effective collaboration within the medical team.
9. Virtual Reality in Dentistry: The Virtual Reality in Dentistry course presents modern uses of virtual reality technologies in dental education and practice. Applications for simulation, clinical training, practical skills training, and patient experience enhancement, including anxiety management and medical communication, are highlighted.

DIDACTIC OBJECTIVES

• Integration within the university teaching staff;
• Adaptation and improvement of own teaching performances;
• Adaptation of teaching-evaluation techniques to the specifics of the disciplines, as well as the degree of interest of the students;
• Application of the principles of adult education in combination with modern psycho-pedagogical methods, and experiential learning in training;
• Improvement of teaching strategies for teaching-acquiring knowledge, training of skills and abilities, systematization and review of knowledge;
• Designing courses in accordance with the performance standards of the teaching subject;
• Systematic development of planning by topics;
• Development of efficient methods and techniques for evaluating the taught subject and analyzing how they can be applied;
• Active and efficient participation, by involvement in the programs run by U.M.F. “Victor Babeş” Timişoara;
• Increasing the prestige of U.M.F. “Victor Babeş” Timişoara by participating in international congresses, carrying out independent research projects or in collaboration with specialized institutions abroad, but also carrying out interdisciplinary collaboration contracts in good conditions.

The mission of these disciplines is to promote and develop interdisciplinary collaboration to identify and evaluate student behaviour, identify vulnerabilities of future Dental Medicine graduates at the professional level, as dental office managers, and techniques for avoiding malpractice situations.

At the discipline and department level, a strong system of values is promoted, which includes:

• interdisciplinary approach – we encourage collaboration between professionals and organizations actively involved in initiatives in the field of dental medical management, ethical and communication aspects in dental medical practice, public health in general and oral health in particular and fundamental research;
• empathy/receptiveness to the problems of the university community – the social intelligence promoted by those who work within the discipline represents an externally oriented dimension of competencies and includes: the sense of situation, presence, attitude, empathy; priorities community represents a central position in the approaches and policies within the discipline;
• clarity/ transparency – all actions will be initiated to achieve the proposed goal and objectives, and any intervention from those involved in the public health sphere and other areas of interest is evaluated, in order to obtain constructive feedback;
• integrity/fairness – we believe that actions initiated by members of the department must be based on components of emotional intelligence, such as social awareness, common sense, objectivity, fairness, honesty and managing reality;
• rigor – we believe that the efforts organized by the members of the department should focus on achieving the proposed goal and objectives and respecting promises and commitments.

The most difficult part for a manager, who is in charge of managing and controlling the dental office, is harmonizing the following parameters: communication at team level and with the patient, technical level, specialty (if applicable), professional ethics and deontology, medical and professional degree, expertise in team management, human resources skills profile (technical, behavioral and relational motivational levers), his development objectives, and above all, articulation with his proactive decisions and the vision of his office.

The mission of a practice expresses the purpose for which it was created, its rationale in relation to the health services market and implicitly with established or potential patients. By defining the mission, the intentional elements, the specific groups of patients, the existing basic needs, as well as the practice’s own performances are specified. In essence, the mission of a practice is circumscribed to a positive result that is desired to be obtained in the future by the health structure.