Complaints Handling and Conflict Resolution

About This Course

Learn effective complaint handling in dental practice through this comprehensive course covering communication skills, conflict resolution, and legal and ethical considerations. Develop an efficient complaints handling procedure and build trust with patients.

Why Take This Course?

This course addresses a common problem that UK dental professionals face – handling patient complaints. Complaints in dental practice can have a significant impact on the practice’s reputation, staff morale, and finances. Effective communication skills, conflict resolution techniques, and legal and ethical considerations are all crucial in resolving complaints successfully. This course provides a comprehensive approach to understanding, handling, and resolving complaints in a dental practice setting, including building trust, active listening, empathy, negotiation skills, mediation, arbitration, de-escalation techniques, and developing an efficient complaints handling procedure.

This course is beneficial for dental professionals seeking to understand, handle, and resolve complaints in a comprehensive and effective manner, including developing an efficient complaints handling procedure and addressing legal and ethical considerations.

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How This Course Supports GDC Enhanced Dental CPD

“Dental professionals have a duty to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. A primary qualification is only the first step in their education and development which should last throughout their professional life” General Dental Council

Learning Objectives	Anticipated Outcomes
1: By the end of this course, students will be able to comprehend the nature, common types and impact of complaints in the dental profession, demonstrated through analysis of a complex complaint case study.	#REF!
2: Upon completion, learners will have the capacity to utilize effective communication skills, including active listening and empathy, in handling complaints, demonstrated through a role-play exercise.
3: Students will demonstrate their ability to identify and apply conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques in a dental practice scenario, (simulated through a thought experiment).
4: By the final session, participants will have mastered the legal aspects and ethical considerations in complaint handling, including confidentiality and data protection principles, displayed through the analysis of a legal and ethical dilemma case study.
5: At the course’s conclusion, attendees will have developed the competency to design and implement an effective complaints handling procedure in a dental practice, demonstrated through the creation of a procedure outline in an exercise.

Regulatory Standards

GDC	CQC
✅ A – Effective Communication ✅ B – Effective Management ✅ C – Maintenance in Field of Practice ✅ D – Maintenance in Patient Confidence	✅ Caring ✅ Effective ✅ Leadership ✅ Responsive ✅ Safe

🕐 90 minutes of Enhanced Dental CPD

Course Description

This course covers a comprehensive approach to understanding, handling, and resolving complaints in a dental practice setting. The course begins by exploring the nature of complaints, including their definition, types, and emotional aspects. It also analyzes common complaints in dental practice, such as mistreatment, billing, and communication-related complaints, and their impact on the practice’s reputation, staff morale, and finances. The course then delves into the importance of effective communication skills in complaint handling, focusing on building trust, active listening, empathy, and non-verbal communication cues like body language and tone of voice. It includes a role-play exercise for handling patient complaints. Conflict resolution techniques are also covered, identifying common causes of conflict and the role of emotions. It teaches negotiation skills, mediation, arbitration, and de-escalation techniques, culminating in a thought experiment applying these techniques. Legal and ethical considerations form a crucial part of the course, discussing laws and regulations, dental board guidelines, healthcare ethical principles, and confidentiality and data protection concerns like HIPAA compliance and patient privacy. Lastly, the course guides students in developing an efficient complaints handling procedure, detailing its components (initial response, investigation, resolution, and follow-up), implementation strategies, and staff training methods. A hands-on exercise in designing a complaints handling procedure concludes this section.

Course Outline

Section 1

Section 1 of the course covers the nature of complaints, including their definition and emotional aspects, as well as common types of complaints in dental practice, such as mistreatment and billing. It also discusses the impact of complaints, including financial consequences and effects on staff and reputation. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate how to handle a complex complaint.

Section 2

Section 2 of the course covers the following topics: understanding complaints, communication skills in complaints handling, conflict resolution techniques, legal and ethical considerations in complaints handling, and developing a complaints handling procedure. The section explores the nature of complaints, common complaints in dental practice, the impact of complaints on dental practice, and the importance of effective communication. It also covers techniques for active listening and empathy, non-verbal communication, and de-escalation techniques in conflict resolution. Additionally, the section discusses legal frameworks and ethical considerations in complaints handling and the components of a complaints handling procedure.

Section 3

Section 3 of this course covers how to handle complaints effectively in dental practice. This includes understanding the nature and impact of complaints, developing communication skills to handle complaints, utilizing conflict resolution techniques, and considering legal and ethical considerations in complaints handling. The section ends with guidance on developing a complaints handling procedure, including creating training materials and engaging with stakeholders.

Section 4

Section 4 of the course covers the legal and ethical considerations in complaints handling. This includes the legal framework, ethical principles, and confidentiality and data protection. A case study is provided to explain legal and ethical dilemmas in complaints handling.

Section 5

Section 5 of the course covers the development of a complaints handling procedure. It includes the components of an effective complaints handling procedure, implementing the procedure, training staff, and designing an exercise to create a complaints handling procedure.

Course Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This course provided a thorough understanding of complaint handling in a dental practice, including different conflict resolution techniques and legal considerations. I particularly appreciated the role-play exercise for handling patient complaints.

✅ Met Course Objectives

✅ Met Course Outcomes

✅ Would Recommend

✅ Had Positive Impact

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The course was very informative on the impact of complaints on a dental practice’s reputation and finances. The negotiation skills and mediation techniques covered were highly valuable in resolving conflicts. The hands-on exercise in developing a complaints handling procedure was also very practical.

✅ Met Course Objectives

✅ Met Course Outcomes

✅ Would Recommend

✅ Had Positive Impact

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The course was well-structured and covered all aspects of complaint handling, from understanding the emotional aspects of complaints to developing an efficient complaints handling procedure. The emphasis on effective communication skills and building trust with patients was especially helpful in preventing complaints from escalating.

✅ Met Course Objectives

✅ Met Course Outcomes

✅ Would Recommend

✅ Had Positive Impact

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