| Journal |
Fall 2001
|
Guest editorial
Careers in the dental health professions: The rewards,
realities, and responsibilities
By, Richard Simms
Dentistry is a great profession. It is intellectually
stimulating, challenging, satisfying, and rewarding though as with all
careers, it is occasionally frustrating. If you practice responsibly and
compassionately, and provide your patients with the personal attention
they require and deserve, you will be intellectually satisfied, economically
comfortable, and highly respected. Your patients will remember you, thank
you, and often express their affection and even love for you.
Graduation is not the end of our education—only the “Commencement”
(the beginning) of lifelong learning. The ongoing advances in knowledge
and new techniques demand lifelong learning. We must strive for excellence
every day of our practice lives and we must further strive to be charitable
and be grateful for having the opportunity to serve.
We have been well prepared with the skills that our profession requires—but,
there will be routine procedures as well as unusual ones for which we
occasionally feel that we are not fully prepared. It is these circumstances,
occasionally compounded by a lack of sustained patient interest and cooperation
with treatment, that can adversely affect the quality of care we deliver.
That which will most hold us in good stead, and which we all desperately
need, to get us through, is good judgment. Some of us have it and some
of us do not—but each of us must strive to develop it.
Many of the problems which all health-care professionals encounter today
stem from the fact that for some years now the health-care system in the
United States has been undergoing dramatic changes which affect our practices
and patients’ perception of the quality and quantity of care they
receive or do not receive. Changes in the financing and delivery of care
have often adversely affected the relationship between patients and practitioners.
Patients are skeptical about the commitment to their well being of their
employers, both private and governmental, who often pay all or a portion
of the cost of care as a benefit of employment. The employers do not want
to, or cannot afford to, contribute more and more to health care in the
presence of rising costs, increasing eligibility, and a plethora of scientific
advances in treatment and medications to which all patients feel entitled.
Consequently, patients question whether financial considerations are the
primary determiners of the treatment decisions.
Professionals—physicians, dentists, and others—are also uncertain
of their place in this changed health-care environment and question to
whom they are truly responsible: the patient, themselves, the employers
of the patients, HMO managers or managed care, HMO and PPO companies.
There is a titanic struggle between practitioners who, feeling that they
are losing control of their professions, are trying to keep or regain
control and for-profit-companies who are trying to keep or take away control.
In the process, business decisions are made which affect the quality and
quantity of care delivered, and reduce the compensation and sense of worth
of the professional. No longer do for-profit companies (and even patients
say) “Doctor, how much do you charge for your services?” They
say, “This is what we will pay,” “This is the amount you
can bill us,” “These are the only procedures you can perform,”
“This is when we will pay you.” It appears that the changes
in the organization and financing of health care and its delivery have
created conflicts between the professional and the for-profit companies
with the patient caught in the middle. In spite of this conflict, we must
always remember that, no matter what, the ultimate obligation is still
owed to the patient who is on the receiving end of our care.
The following are some additional responsibilities, that in my opinion,
we have as obligations.
We need to remember that:
• Our personal and professional accomplishments did not come from
our efforts alone. Our families and our professional ancestors and predecessors
have contributed much. Simply expressing gratitude alone to them is not
enough.
• Education should not be used selfishly but rather used to serve
others. The health professions exist first for the benefit of all who
need and/or seek our services and only secondarily for the benefit of
us as practitioners.
• Education is one of the best bargains that anyone can get. No matter
where we attended school or at what level—we received far more than
our tuition paid for.
• Every day of our lives we receive benefits from that education.
We need to remember our debt and commit ourselves to returning in kind
so that it will be available to others. Loma Linda University exists because
many tithed to create and maintain our magnificent structural, educational,
and intellectual environment. We must remember that we have been prepared
by these same individuals often to the same extent as we were by our parents
to serve and to minister to the health needs of others.
• Another group to whom we owe a debt are those who have done the
research, written the books, developed the techniques and passed them
on to us to use, to improve and pass on to others. The education was not
given for us to exploit. Most in this group made such contributions in
the interest of advancing and passing on the knowledge and science—not
in the interest of making a personal fortune.
• We must give of ourselves and our resources to our schools, and
to our profession. All are relevant to the practice life of dentists,
dental specialists, and dental hygienists.
The future of dentistry as a profession is very bright. Every day of your
practice life you will be happy that you chose dentistry for your life’s
work.
 |
Editor’s note: Richard A. Simms, BS, DDS, MS (SD’63), served as first vice president, ADA, 2000–01; member and chair, Council on Government Affairs (COGA), AAO (1990–98); member and vice chair, COGA, ADA (1987–92; 1995–99); member, chair, and consultant, Council on Legislation, CDA (1979–99); and president, California Association of Orthodontists (1984–86). |
All contents copyright © 2001 Loma Linda University.
All rights reserved. Revised February 14, 2001
Send comments and questions to webmaster@univ.llu.edu
URL: http://www.llu.edu