If an assigned patient record is left with a faculty or staff member, the student should receive a receipt and the receipt should be placed in the file in the clinic until the record is returned. All Pediatric patient records are to be sequenced according to the Pediatric Clinical Dentistry Syllabus. Unless a record has been signed out to some other area, the only clinic record to be outside the Record Room will be the one for the patient you are treating. Every dentist must keep current, accurate records. The clinical practice experience in the College of Dentistry affords an excellent means to develop this phase of practice administration.
Patient records are legal documents and are maintained for several reasons.
In the clinic they help to assure accuracy for charges and payments, and determine if the treatment has progressed with proper continuity. Also, the records are used as a means to assure the student of credit towards clinical requirements. As such, it should be kept in a safe and secure place so that it is neither lost nor available for indiscriminate review by individuals who are not responsible or involved in the patient's care. By the same token, a patient record should not be readily available for the patient to review. The patient may misinterpret information that is in the record which could lead to misunderstanding or embarrassment.