It's the same in many fields of endeavour

doi:10.1136/bmj.39101.399954.1F

BMJ 2007;334:170 (27 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39101.399954.1F

Letters

Ward crisis

It's the same in many fields of endeavour

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The problem on the wards is the same in manyfields of endeavour.¹ As a dentist with over 40 years at the‘‘toothface'' I know that most of us do not spendenough time personally helping patients to keep themselves healthy—showingthem how to clean their teeth and how to eat sensibly. We wouldmuch rather be doing the "advanced treatment"—fixing theteeth that should have been kept healthy in the first placeand making them more beautiful. The simple things we delegateto others.

This is all very well—it takes less timeto train a hygienist than a dentist—but because it costsless to see a hygienist than to have a tooth fixed by a dentistboth patient and dentist come to believe that the simple care(the "crap job") is less important than the complex.

Good leaders in all fields know that you haveto make your presence . . . [Full text of this article]

Jim Page, dental practitioner and dental tutor

¹ Tunbridge Wells TN4 8BG jimpage@bikerider.com