What are dental nurses’ perceptions of stress and its triggers in dentistry, is it perceived that mentoring could help?

Abstract

Background
Stress in dentistry is widely researched and the evidence is that it is a stressful profession. Research has mainly focused on dentists and oftentimes the rest of the team has not been considered. Working in dentistry relies on teamwork and the multidisciplinary team therefore it is of paramount importance that all members of the team are researched.
Aim
To investigate current perceptions of stress and its triggers in dental nurses (DN) (including trainee dental nurse (TDN)) and explore if mentoring could help.
Methodology
Case study design with a phenomenological aspect. Perceptions of DN/TDN around stress in dentistry, its triggers and perceptions of mentoring were collected using on online questionnaire. The questionnaire was posted on Facebook using closed professional groups. The questionnaire invited interested participants to opt-in to take part in semi structured interviews to gather more detailed insights into stress in dentistry relating to their own experiences, the triggers, and coping mechanisms. The semi structured interviews were conducted and recorded on Microsoft Teams. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (RTA).
Results
Sixty-one DN/TDN with various amounts of professional experience, backgrounds and working environments completed the questionnaire and five chose to take part in semi-structured interviews. In answering the questionnaire, all participants reported that working in dentistry is stressful, 92% said that they are suffering or have suffered from burnout and, 95% thought that having a mentor would be beneficial. The analysis of the semi structured interviews resulted in six themes: Nature of the problem: - emotions, team, burnout and money, Triggers: - regulation/complaints, patients, time and communication, Coping mechanisms: -time off, reducing hours and talking, Support: - peers, management and friends, Self-doubt: - training, confidence and imposter syndrome, and Mentoring: - seen as a positive, unknown and mentees choice of mentor.
Conclusions
DN/TDN face job related stress. Since they are hired members of the team, they frequently have no influence over their working environment, which fosters multiple triggers of stress. Mentoring could be a support system and coping technique. Implementation of mentorship in the early phases of DN/TDN training/career may assist to lessen the negative effects of stress, such as burnout, and thus lower the number of registered employees quitting the field.