Patients’ assessments of their health status following dental treatment and their perceived resolution is arguably the most important indicator of quality. We will review the concept of person-centered care and describe an innovative solution to optimize the quality of dental pain management by implementing mobile phone technology to monitor patients’ pain during the acute post-operative phase. We will review how the system is implemented in a dental school clinic, and discuss how actively tracking post-operative symptoms can help to promptly identify patients with sub-optimal pain experiences and offer providers an opportunity to intervene and practice person-centered care.
Learning Objectives:
Describe the concept of person-centered care and how it differs from and complements student- and patient-centered care.
Explain how to collect patient-reported outcomes of post-operative symptoms and how providers can use this information to improve patient pain management following dental procedures.
Explore how patient reported outcomes can be used in dental school clinic settings to improve the quality of care.
