Join Marianne Nicolle, Meridian Lawyers - Principal, and Christie Boucher, Risk Services Manager for Guild Insurance Australia, and identify key risk areas for dentists today.

This course will review negligence case studies in dentistry and Medicare, and explore strategies to minimise your risks with practical and realistic solutions.

Come to beautiful Launceston and enjoy the panoramic views from the Peppers Silo tower. Lunch will be served at 12:30pm. Lectures will begin at 1:30pm - 6:00pm. Complimentary cocktail party is included with your course registration, starting at 6:00pm. Click here to register for the Cocktail Function only, no lectures.

Topics include

• Recent cases concerning negligence
• Dentistry and Medicare
• Understanding the relationship between poor communication and patient complaint - As a dentist, your clinical knowledge and skills are incredibly important and at the core of what you do. However, Guild Insurance’s claims experience tells us that communication breakdowns are at the core of patient complaints. Yes, poor clinical outcomes will often lead to complaints. Yet when we delve deeper into the root cause of complaints, we generally find a communication breakdown between the dentist and patient has occurred. This session will help dentists better understand common communication errors and how they can be improved.
• Clinical decision making - There are numerous factors which can influence a complaint occurring and how swiftly it can be settled, and this doesn’t all come down to clinical errors. To manage these factors, dentists should regularly challenge themselves to be sure their decision making is appropriate and unlikely to contribute to complaints. Is the assessment sufficient to make a diagnosis? Is the treatment plan realistic and appropriate? Is the treatment proposed within the personal scope of practice? Should the patient be referred to a specialist? Are there enough details in the clinical record to explain the decisions made? This session will explore where this decision making sometimes goes wrong, according to Guild Insurance’s claims experience.
• Safe social media use - Whether we love it or loathe it, social media use is increasing all the time in both our personal and professional lives. While social media has many benefits, it can also lead to many problems if not used well. This session will explore the risks of using social media, the impact of personal social media use on person’s professional reputation as well as provide tips for how social media risks can be minimised.