[Solved]: Leslie is eager to begin a new position in her…

Leslie is eager to begin a new position in her first year of clinical practice as a dental hygienist. Dr. Shepherd has been in practice for 15 years and most staff members have been with him for at least the past 10 years, including Ann, the dental hygienist with whom she will be practicing. Leslie is glad to have someone with experience take to mentor her. A dental assistant takes care of instrument sterilization and tray setups for dental hygienists. As she sat down to her first patient, she noticed the instruments on her instrument cassette were all sickle scalers and she wanted curettes. On closer inspection, however, she discovered that all but one instrument were indeed curettes; they had just been sharpened incorrectly, leaving them with no contour (curvature) at the toe. She excused herself to go into the instrument supply room only to find that all of the curettes had sharp, pointed toes. Going back to the clinical area, she peeked in to ask Ann if the assistant did the sharpening for her (as she glanced at Ann’s tray, she noted the curettes were equally sharpened to a distinct point). Ann answered, “No, I do all the sharpening myself because I am very picky.” Leslie suddenly realizes nothing has ever been said in a work description about who orders new dental hygiene instruments. She had learned in school that dental hygiene practitioners took care of their own instruments. Leslie pondered what she would do to address this situation—especially how to approach it without alienating her new coworkers. Questions for Consideration 1. Given Leslie’s novice status as a clinician, how will she approach her new colleague—an experienced practitioner—with her concerns? Which core values of dental hygiene are involved in this scenario? 2. What harm, if any, is affecting Dr. Shepherd’s patients? Discuss whether the dentist needs to be notified about the condition of the instruments. 3. Utilizing an ethical decision framework, describe realistic alternatives for Leslie’s course of action in this situation.