The role of the consumer in quality assurance

At present, then, consumer-related concerns can be viewed as being in two categories. The first consists of those persons already within the dental care delivery system who, overall, are satisfied with the care they are receiving and tend to hold their dentists, and the profession as a whole, in high esteem. This group does express concern about the technical quality of the services provided to them but also recognizes that their ability to adequately judge this aspect of care without professional assistance is limited. Greater consumer input, however, is being sought in participation in treatment-planning decisions and in choices available to them. Similarly, patients are looking to their dental providers to show greater concern for their needs as individuals: their financial, emotional, language, family, and related health needs. In general, dentists are responding to these demands both out of genuine concern that their patients receive the best care under the most caring circumstances and out of economic necessity. In both traditional practices and in emerging group-practice arrangements, consumer input is being sought, both informally and in more structured arrangements such as the inclusion of consumer representatives in prepaid dental programs. Although there will, understandably, always be tensions in the relationship between consumer expectations and the actual state-of-the-art that determines to which level the provider can actually provide, the dental profession can pride itself in being most demanding on itself to meet the needs of the people we serve. In the latter category, that of persons at present not receiving dental care, we currently find an adversary relationship between professional and consumer groups. Differences exist not only in perceived solutions, but to the actual extent of the problems. Consumer demands that informed choice should include their ability to utilize nondental health providers for dental care, further serve to antagonize and alienate even those leaders of the profession who also seek to expand services to previously unserved or underserved population groups. Is the relationship between the profession and the underserved community and their spokespersons destined to be one of antagonism? If we accept the data that of those persons who do not seek dental care, 65 per cent simply "do not feel a need to do so," there would appear to be a mutuality of interest between the profession and consumer groups to mount a suitable outreach or educational program to reach this particular population group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)