I hope you can advise me on the following.

I am a registered dental nurse and have been working in practice for the past ten years.

I have been assisting with sedation patients but am now unsure how I stand with registration now in place. My dentist occasionally carries out sedation treatment now but not on a regular basis and I am wondering if I need to have a post qualification in sedation to be able to assist with these patients.

Would you be able to give me any information please?

Elizabeth Curtis at the GDC responds: General Dental Council standards guidance is a code of behaviour that you agree to abide by as a registered DCP. This is one of the main ways in which we protect patients, but standards also protect DCPs by making it clear what is expected of you.

Our guidance is not made of lists of rules about what registrants should and shouldn't do. Instead the guidance sets out the principles and values that DCPs should work with when making decisions. It is their responsibility to apply these principles to their daily work, using their judgement in the light of the principles. DCPs have a professional responsibility to be prepared to justify their actions, and we may ask registrants to do so.

Our Scope of practice guidance states:

Additional skills dental nurses could develop during their careers include:

  • Assisting in the treatment of patients who are under conscious sedation.

Additional skills are those a DCP may wish to develop after they have registered. There are different ways of doing this – the key point is to only carry out a task or type of treatment, or make decisions about a patient's care if you are sure you have the necessary skills.

Further information about conscious sedation can be found on page 10 of this document – our Standards for dental professionals.

http://www.gdc-uk.org/NR/rdonlyres/1B66D814-A197-4253-B331-A2DB7F3254DC/0/StandardsforDentalProfessionals.pdf

You may also wish to consult your indemnity provider to see if they have a view on this particular issue.