RA Course Report 24th March 2012

Relaxing on a beautiful spring day at home in Newbury following our 29th RA course, it is time to reflect and check the feedback.

This time the one-day course was held in our new education suite and so everything was different for us and in truth, only just ready in time with plumbing still going on the day before.  

We decided to use both rooms with one set up for the interactive, didactic teaching 

and the other with a massage bed , doubling as a dental chair, for the practical demonstrations, using a mobile stand for the equipment.

I must say that on reflection, although this arrangement did work and allowed us to demonstrate the technique very nicely, talking it over with Chris, we feel that using my treatment room with a bona fide dental chair and our neat, fixed installation, is probably more akin to what delegates would be used to.  In that respect, as well as others, it differentiates our offering from that which SAAD are able to provide.

So for future courses, we will revert to using my treatment room for the practical demonstrations, including the one with a patient, which will still be patched through to the new seminar room via a-v links.

For me, one of the highlights of these demonstrations is when I offer the patient the opportunity to speak unscripted to the delegates . They only have a few seconds to say yes or no and invariably ( so far) accept the invitation.

This allows the patient to say how they felt about the experience immediately afterwards and also for the delegates to fully appreciate both the effectiveness of technique and just how rapidly the patient recovers and how lucid they are within, a few minutes of " switching off" the nitrous
oxide.

Feedback Results

We had 9 delegates. 6 dentists and 3 dental nurses.
3 dentists from different practices in Ireland and 2 from Leeds with 2 of their dental nurses.
None of these have used sedation or have seen patients treated under conscious sedation.
Finally, 1 GDP and his nurse from Hereford, who is experienced in IV sedation and had tried but gave up on RA some years ago.

Of the 9, 5 chose to give additional comments: Here they are, warts and all, in no particular order.
 

1) "The course was very informative, interesting and fun. Looking forward to practicing it"
 

2) "Thank you very much for an extremely informative day"
 

3) Please do not use yellow or light colour on the slides which are to be printed as it doesn't show up"
( My sincere apologies to any delegate whose handout was unclear, we did have some printing issues beforehand and I will of course be sending better copies to any delegate who requires it)
 

4) "Really enjoyable course. Enjoyed both the theoretical part and the hands-on element. Dr. Charon makes RA seem very straightforward. Chris and the other nurses were very kind also.
 

5) I was very impressed with what I felt was a unique course, small group size and 'special interest' experience from Richard, Chris and the team. I would and shall gladly recommend to colleagues interested in R.A.

Feedback scores:

Venue Excellent, 2: v .good 7 (Need to improve central heating. Too cool at the start and a tad warm by the end of the day)
Relevance: Excellent 8, v. Good 1
Audio-Visual: Excellent 5, v. Good 4 ( a fair reflection. We had a couple of minor glitches)
Speaker: Excellent:8 v. Good 1

So room for improvement on the audiovisuals. A few of the 490 slides to be edited. I'll be seeking further clarity on this from the delegates.

Summative assessment results

 All delegates completed a short MCQ by way of a summative assessment of the day's teaching.

7 delegates scored 83%
1 delegate scored 91%
1 delegate scored 100%

So all in all a pretty successful day's learning and vCPD and very helpful feedback too.

The next course is on May 12th, in Newbury. There has been much interest already. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, so if you are interested, please e-mail me (richard@the-ra-coach.co.) to request more information for course No. 30 in the series.

and finally via e-mail:

" Hi Richard

I just want to thank you, Chris and the rest of your team for a great course last Saturday. It was hugely informative and has greatly increased my confidence and enthusiasm for using RA.

Kind regards 

Lotte"

 

RA Course for Sat 21st. Jan update

Audio-visual wiring being re-routed at Precision Dental Studio,
PowerPoint checked, camcorder checked, A-V connections checked.
RA equipment checked, food ordered, register and CPD certificates printed etc.
Ready to roll, setting up next Friday afternoon for Saturday's course. Delegates from Plymouth, Ireland, Manchester, Leamington Spa, Latvia, Estonia and Gerrard's Cross. Experience ranges from zero to very! Should be excellent.

Facial Aesthetics - A New Avenue?

©

Facial Aesthetics - A New Avenue?

I received the following Message from Dr. Peter Mounce at The Smile Team about 2 years ago, which shows great promise for using RA in Facial Aesthetic work undertaken by dentists. See how he uses this in his Website markeitng introduction

"We are all well and getting into RA.

Several cases completed now with good to excellent results.

2 mobile machines in operation working well with one portable scavenger unit - not clashed on usage yet.

Most remarkable cases to date :
 
20 external facial injections of Restylane without dental anaesthesia (no infra orbital and mental blocks) just 60:40 RA and accepted well by patients who reported 1-2 on pain scale of 1-10
and who where fully functioning at the conclusion - no 4 hr local to wear off!

Vast improvement....

Our best wishes to you and your team from the Smile Team and me. "

If this aspect of using RA is of interest to you , please contact me


richard@the-ra-coach.co.uk

Venue for 21st Jan 2012. Update News

6 working days into our education suite refurbishments and it is now clear that the new venue will not be completed in time for Jan 21st. This being the case the venue will be Precision Dental Studio, Rivermead, off Piper's Lane, Thatcham, Berks. RG19 4EP, where will have use of both their Gold and Platinum rooms and their surgery too.

This is a dedicated education suite too, which we have used three times before very successfully.





For those attending, please ensure you arrive by 8.45am for coffee and registration.

 Please get in touch if you have any queries.
richard@the-ra-coach.co.uk

A new venue

I am delighted to announce that having secured the lease to premises immediately adjacent to my practice this month, I am planning to develop a larger seminar suite for my hands-on RA courses,

I expect to be able to accommodate a maximum of 16 people. More news will appear when the premises have been fitted out by the end of January 2012

Inhalation Sedation. Another little success

Vicki is my son's partner.
She came to me as a patient about 2 years ago. She was very fearful though not phobic. Here is her story,

Since then she has had several visits mainly using RA but more recently she has not always needed it.
Today she came for a minor filling which needed local anaesthetic (Using the Wand).

I said "Are you OK without the happy air for this" , she said "yes".
Then, as I prepared for the Wand, she suddenly said , "Actually I know I said I'd be brave but I'm getting panicky- can I gave the happy air after all"

"No problem" said I. Within 2 minutes she was sedated and I continued without so much as a hiccup.
10 minutes later the filling was finished ( it was a quick one)  and 3 minutes later she was leaving the dental chair ready to go back to taking care of my grandson!

There is no other simple sedation technique to overcome such anxiety so quickly in a non-invasive way, with no prior preparation and with such rapid return to normal, allowing patients to return to work, school or childcare. Just another reason that I love RA so much !

If you would like this easy approach to dentistry call us at Newbury Smilemakers on 01635 47757 and arrange a free initial discussion of your fears and your needs.

RA course on 26th November in Saddleworth- Now Full

This image is just for illustration, showing our Dental Therapist treating a patient sedated by me.

The course on November 26th at Apollonia House in Saddleworth, near Oldham, is now fully booked.

We have 2 dentists and their Dental Nurses from different practices from London attending. They will be joined by 2 GDPs flying in from Aberdeen, a group of 4 GDPs from Barnsley. This will be the practice owner's 3rd visit to my courses. Also our first GDP and her DN from N.Wales & another GDP from Nottinghamshire plus Andy Boon from Apollonia House and last but certainly not least, my SAAD and DSTG colleague from Liverpool, Roy Bennett. A full-house indeed and a great mix of people. I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone.

Richard Charon

Its great to have made a difference

Here are some great comments received today from two colleagues who attended the RA course earlier in 2011. These were in response to my request for support in the 2011 Private Dentistry Elite 20 competition:

“ ..you have shown me that sedation and gentle painless dentistry is more of a practice builder than anything else. I have employed this in my daily practice” ..

” I find being able to treat someone that hasn't been able to visit the dentist due to fear much more inspirational than reading the 1000th article about veneers and bleaching we find in every journal! “

Dr Uzman al Haq.

"I really enjoyed the course and I am seeing not only children but also adult patients under RA now. You might remember me, I am a paediatric dentist."
she also said "You have my vote already!"
Makbule Ogretme (Mac)

Its great to have made a difference to the practicing lives of these dentists, let alone their patients

July 2011: RA course futher comments

Here, three of the course delegates offer some further comments about their day's training with us in Newbury last week. The first is from a dental hygienist, the wife of a GDP practice partner, who attended with two of their dental nurses:

"Thank you Richard for your prompt reply . We all thoroughly enjoyed the course and have much food for thought. I am busy telling my husband all about it! "

The next two are from GDPs. One an experienced RA user, the other not yet practicing in the UK but I understand is working towards her GDC overseas registration exam.

Interestingly both practitioners, who do not work together and with very different backgrounds and previous experience, made almost exactly the the same comment. Can you spot it?!

" Dr.Charon, many thanks for such an interesting course and for sharing all your wide knowledge and experience about RA with us.  I had 10 years of private and hospital general experience in my own country, and the foundation knowledge of sedation from my training, but before I have done your course, I had never thought that RA was an achievable and excellent tool for the comfort of nervous patients, especially in private practices.

The course content, the facilities, and venue were excellent. You had make it simple and easy to understand. 

Thank you to the whole team, for making this day such an informative and enjoyable one.

Esperanza Salazar"

The second is copied here from a comment left on the previous blog post.

Thank you Richard for an excellent comprehensive overview of RA. As an experienced RA user, I have not had any further training since my undergraduate days, and it was most reassuring to see that you have a very similar take on the subject to myself. Interestingly, I have never considered RA as a tool for private dentistry, - you certainly have opened that door for me - many thanks - Rob Regan

July 2011: RA course report

Saturday 23rd July -  
27th Hands-on training day in Inhalation Sedation with Dr. Richard Charon in Newbury.

Another excellent course with a great group of people today in Newbury.  The day was very interactive, with lots of questions and discussion and excellent feedback (see below)

Dental professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds attended, making it a full house of 8 at my dental practice. We had one dentist working in NE London in The Community Dental Service, another soon to begin in a Manchester practice, another currently seeking her GDC entrance requirements to practice in the UK from a European country. A fourth dentist with RA experience and his dental nurse from a larger practice in Wiltshire and a Hygienist and two dental nurses from the same practice in Hampshire.

So of the eight feedback forms , three gave me an "excellent" score in all categories for

• Venue, 
• Relevance to the subject,
• Audio-visuals and 
• Speaker,

Which was generous since I had to own up to an Audio-visual glitch at the start.

Another three gave me scores of very good or excellent in all categories

One returned feedback of

• Excellent - Speaker
• Very good for A-v and Relevance
• with only a "Good" for venue. 

Which is fair enough, as my practice is not a conference hotel.
The last feedback form said

• Excellent to relevance, 
• Very good to Speaker and
• Good to Venue and Audiovisuals

Overall I am pleased with this feedback. Here are some of the comments:

" Thank you very much to the whole team for making it such an informative and comfortable day. I feel enabled to take the training I have had forward and implement it in practice."

" Having had very little experience in Inhalation Sedation, this course has certainly increased my confidence and enthusiasm in being able to start providing it. Money well spent ! For me and my patients "

"Thanks for a very informative and relaxed day. Lunch superb ! "

"Very enjoyable, informative day. Thank you"

The next date is set for September 17th and is potentially full once confirmations are received.

We are also booking for Saturday 12th November.

Tel: 01635 47757

e-mail: richard@the-ra-coach.co.uk

A positive comment from May 7th 2011

Richard the main thing about the course that was good was the fact that you can see the whole dental team is fully involved in not only your seminars but also your practice. 

You can see that chris and yourself take great pride in your work and it shows through the course! 

thanks 

Uzman

Inhalation Sedation curriculum for DCPs

GDC Scope of practice and Inhalation Sedation competency training for Dental Hygienists and Therapists.
It is just over 5 yrs since the GDC's Scope of Practice initiative was published, permitting Hygienists and Therapists to act as operator-sedationists in administering Inhalation sedation to overcome dental anxiety,
 
The DSTG (Dental Sedation Teachers Group) announced yesterday, at their annual symposium, held at the Maritime Museum in Liverpool, that they are to collaborate with SAAD in setting up a curriculum for the training of Hygienists and Therpists in Inhalation sedation.

This comes at the exact moment the GDC is calling for input into a root and branch review of the Scope of Practice, which will include what should be removed from the list of possible allowed tasks, as well as the possibility of adding new tasks to the list.
 
Perhaps those on the DSTG and SAAD committees already know that Inhalation Sedation for DCPs,once competency has been certified,is to be kept as part of the Scope of Practice. Perhaps they should and indeed will wait for the outcome of the review before committing resources to producing such a curriculum.

Richard Charon

Feedback comments from May 7th Teaching day

We hosted a mix of Dentists and Dental nurses, some in Private Practice others in the NHS 

including community services.

 They came from
Hull,
Reading, Berks (local to us), 
Sevenoaks, Kent and Croyden, Surrey

Here are some feedback comments

"One word; Excellent! Thank you very much"

"Learned a lot . Many thanks"

"I have been using RA for 25 years and still learnt 

a great deal from Richard. 

A very valuable day, many thanks"

"Excellent course. 

Well presented and explained, 

will definitely be providing RA in Practice"

I think these add nicely to the many other testimonials we have received. 

If you want see more here they are

25th Hands-on RA course- Great comments

Another very successful day's learning on March 26th. Our 25th Hands-on RA course. This time back at the practice in Newbury for a smaller group. We had a GDP and his RDN attending from Northern Ireland for the first time, two practitioners who work in the community service and our Dental Therapist.

The day was so interactive that we ended up being a little pushed for time at the very end, when the group completed a 10-question, multiple choice, knowledge test, to finish the day.

The simple feedback questionnaire which asks for grading on Venue, Relevance, Speaker and Audio-visuals, returned a result of 100% "Excellent" in all categories.

Here are the comments received,on the day and another received on reflection:

"Super Patient AND Practitioner centred course. Will affect + direct mu professional practice for years to come. Lecture notes are excellent. 

Thanks Richard and Chris

Paul Cochrane"

"Learned so much today. Very interesting. Thanks Chris and Richard and all the team"

"A very thorough course- answered all of my questions + worries with the help of visual aids and practical sessions. Thank you."

"Very informative

All Q's anwered

Lots of Practical/hands-on

Lots of breaks/ variety so not bored"

"Really enjoyed the day - Thank you"

and this one received two days later

"Dear Richard

Many thanks to you and Chris again - I have been inspired.Can't forget the video of the little girl having her premolars out and not moving a muscle."

If you are considering attending one of these one-day training courses, then perhaps these comments and those below will help you make up your mind.

Please contact me now to book for May 7th 2011 or call for any further details 01635 47757.

Remember your nurse should come too unless she has already received training.

Here are a few more details plus more wonderful testimonials in my brochure:

 Richard Charon