Wellbeing and Resilience in dental education: supporting our team Community Of Practice

Mental health and wellbeing of the dental team is critical in maintaining and retaining a healthy workforce. High levels of stress and burnout reported in dentistry can significantly impact on clinical performance and patient safety. Dentists, dental therapists and hygienists report low levels of wellbeing compared to the general population, and stress is reported to be predominantly workplace-centered (Hallett et al 2022). Education providers have a duty of care and an ethical responsibility for supporting their staff / students effectively and promoting their wellbeing and resilience.   

This COP aims to:

• Identify the wellbeing and stress of dental educators and students. 
• Identify the support services available, their utilization, and barriers to use,  
• Identify good practices for promoting staff / student wellbeing and to disseminate best practices to educational establishments.  

The community of practice is inviting members to join us for an interactive sharing session at ADEE in Liverpool to discuss examples of good practice that dental schools/centres undertake with regards to health and wellbeing for staff and students and discuss any challenges.