SDCEP at 20
The programme has become the ‘go to’ for dental guidance
The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP), operating within NHS Education for Scotland, is a well-regarded source of user-friendly, evidence-based guidance for dental teams and, in some cases, other healthcare professionals. 2024 marks SDCEP’s 20th anniversary and much has been achieved in the last two decades.
“In the early 2000s, Scotland’s National Dental Advisory Committee identified a need for guidance on priority topics for the dental profession,” said Professor Jan Clarkson, SDCEP’s Director. “However, at that time there was no obvious means of achieving this. Scotland’s Dental Action Plan funding subsequently provided the opportunity to create something new. In July 2004, encouraged by the then Chief Dental Officer Ray Watkins and backed by the NHS Education for Scotland’s Postgraduate Dental Dean Jim Rennie, a guidance development programme was established.”
With Derek Richards as Specialist Advisor, Professor Jeremy Bagg chairing a steering group and Dr Doug Stirling leading guidance development, the SDCEP name was soon adopted, and a distinctive brand emerged with the first guidance publication in 2006, Conscious Sedation in Dentistry.
Evolving a rigorous methodology has been crucial to SDCEP’s success in providing resources that are both evidence-informed and user-friendly
Dental sedation was one of several guidance topics assigned to SDCEP from the outset. Others included instrument decontamination, drug prescribing, dental caries in children, oral health assessment and emergency dental care. SDCEP has also responded to requests from the profession for guidance on emerging concerns, such as drugs associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw, periodontal care, and novel anticoagulants and, since 2010, has provided advice on practice management and quality assurance via the online Practice Support Manual.
“Evolving a rigorous methodology has been crucial to SDCEP’s success in providing resources that are both evidence-informed and user-friendly,” said Doug Stirling. “To ensure end-user input, for each guidance topic a Guidance Development Group is convened made up of representatives of the profession and other stakeholders, including patients and chaired by a clinical lead. In 2016, SDCEP became the only dental organisation to gain National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) accreditation for its guidance development process, which signifies quality and reliability.”
SDCEP also has a long-standing and valuable collaboration with Cochrane Oral Health and
other links with the Royal Colleges and several specialist societies help achieve efficiencies and consistent messaging.
Fundamental to achieving NICE accreditation has been the contribution of SDCEP’s partner programme Translation Research in a Dental Setting (TRiaDS), led by Dr Linda Young. “It’s through the work of TRiaDS that stakeholder views, current practice and potential barriers to implementation of guidance recommendations are identified and we evaluate guidance implementation.” said Dr Young.
“TRiaDS also informs, designs and tests theoretically guided interventions to promote guidance implementation. In this way, TRiaDS adds to SDCEP’s understanding of professional behaviour change in healthcare – eliciting which interventions work and in what circumstances.”
In addition to developing guidance, SDCEP has responded to requests from the profession in other ways, such as providing ‘implementation advice’ about reducing dental amalgam use and antibiotic prophylaxis for infective endocarditis, which is cited in the related NICE guideline and highlights the quality and relevance of SDCEP’s work. Similarly, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SDCEP provided several resources to support practices and policy decisions, including a practice recovery toolkit and rapid reviews on aerosol generating procedures and ventilation. Use of SDCEP products is not restricted
to Scotland, having become recognised as a valuable resource throughout the UK and beyond. The guidance is used extensively in undergraduate and postgraduate education and has been adopted in numerous other countries.
Going forward, SDCEP has moved from providing its guidance in conventional printed or pdf format to website delivery. This helps ensure users have access to the most recent information and makes focused updating more practical. With heightened concerns about the climate crisis, SDCEP has started highlighting how following recommendations in its guidance can help practices provide care more effectively and efficiently, thereby contributing to reducing the environmental impact of oral healthcare.
NHS Education for Scotland’s Dental Director, Professor David Felix said, “Over the past 20 years, working closely with the profession, SDCEP has evolved to become the ‘go to’ for dental guidance. Many thanks must go to SDCEP’s unique and skilled team and to the many dental colleagues and other contributors who, have willingly given their time and shared their expertise to help craft SDCEP resources that are evidence-based, user-friendly and greatly valued.”