[Identification of the scope of practice for dental nurses with Delphi method]

To identify the practice scope of dental nurses under the new situations.

The draft of scope of practice for dental nurses was based on theoretical analysis, literature review and consultation of advisory panel, and the final scope of practice for dental nurses was established by using the Delphi method. Statistical analysis was implemented using coefficient of variation, Kendall W with SPSS 17.0 software package.

Thirty experts were consulted twice by using the Delphi method. The effective rates of two rounds of questionnaire were 100% and 73.3%, respectively. The authority coefficient was 0.837, and the P value of expert coordination coefficients W was less than 0.05. There were totally 116 suggestions from the experts, and 96 were accepted. The scope of practice for dental nurses was finally established, including 4 primary indexes and 25 secondary indexes.

The scope of practice for dental nurses under the new situations is established in China through scientific methods. It is favorable for position management of dental nurses and may promote the development of nurse specialists in dental clinic.