Patients' views on dentists' ability to manage medical crises - results of focus group research

Background Australia faces an ageing population which is more medically complicated than in years past, and it is important that we meet public expectations of management of medical emergencies in the dental clinic. No research before has examined in depth the public perception of dentists' medical emergency management. Aim To qualitatively assess the publics' perception of medical emergencies in dentistry and their expectations of medical emergency management by dentists. Methods Twelve members of the public associated with a university clinic participated in two focus groups of six persons, where semi-structured discussions were carried out, audio recorded and transcribed, and subsequently underwent comprehensive thematic analysis. Results Key findings included a high expectation of dentists' general medical knowledge, as well as potential concern regarding a lack of routine medical assessment prior to undertaking dental treatment. Conclusions Participants expected dentists to be highly proficient at managing medical crises and support the concept of medical emergency management certification for dentists.