Word of Mouth - School of Public Health and Community Medicine ...

Word of MouthPart C: Perceptions of programvalueWhat works wellMost of those interviewed felt four aspects of thevolunteer dental program worked very well.Meeting the needs: When asked whether thevolunteer dental program was needed, therewas virtually unanimous agreement from allstakeholders that something of this natureproviding dental services to Wuchopperen’scommunity was a distinct and valued alternativeand met a pressing need.Workforce development: Program organisersvalued how the increase in dental services dueto the voluntary program had led to an increasein the employment of dental unit staff.Quality service: In discussing the extent towhich they valued the provision of the service,interviewees expressed their opinions of allthose providing care, including the healthservice – particularly the dental volunteers andWuchopperen’s dental staff – and indicatedthey found it a quality service. An importantdiscussion point was whether a series ofvolunteers coming and going would threatencontinuity of care. Although virtually allindicated continuity of care was essential,the majority did not feel there were any morerisks with a voluntary service than any otherarrangement for patient care. It appeared thatone of the reasons patients readily accepted theturnover of dental volunteers was the presenceof the same dental staff on each visit. By farthe majority of dental volunteers praised theunit’s staff very highly, indicating that theirskills, dedication and efficiency was one of theprimary reasons the program worked well forthem. This respect and admiration was returnedto the dental volunteers by, not only the dentalunit staff, but also a range of other health serviceinformants.Building cross-cultural relationships: Mostvolunteers admitted having had no experienceof Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultureuntil their involvement in the volunteer program,yet the sharing of the same goal to reduce theburden of poor oral health through a qualityservice appeared to allow good cross-culturalrelationships to develop.Ideas for strengthening the programInformants identified some areas where thevolunteer dental program could work better.Increasing mobile van services: There wasresounding support amongst stakeholders forsustaining the Mobile Dental Clinic and regretat the current barriers to providing the serviceregularly. There is the potential for morevolunteer time to be dedicated to the mobileservice – if there are two dental volunteers, itmay be possible for one to go out for a wholeweek.Strengthening oral health promotion: Thepotential for the volunteer dental programto raise the level of oral health awarenessthroughout the health service was suggestedby informants who talked about the importanceof increasing oral health promotion anddisease prevention and also a more deliberateintegration between the oral health messagesgiven by the health workers and doctors, and theteam in the dental clinic.Working relationship of the partnership: Onearea that some informants felt could be moreactively nurtured is the working relationshipbetween the partners through activity focussedon this purpose, importantly between the widerWuchopperen Health Service managementteam and members of the Steering Committee,particularly as new people join.On a more practical level, increasing theaccommodation options, within the definedbudget, was important to a number of dentalvolunteers.The future: Finally, informants gave theiropinions on how the program overall might bestrengthened, and the possibilities of expandingto other sites with high needs.4