I am studying for my MJDF qualification and I have been lucky enough to attend this superb course organised by Dr Nick Cooper and Dr Anwara Chambers. They hold regular meetings and have created an excellent website which guides you through putting together the folder of evidence you need to demonstrate your knowledge of the core dental subjects.

Mersey MJDF Study Group & Core Skills On-line

The study group meetings

The core subjects are listed below:

1. Medical Emergencies in Practice
2. Infection Control
3. Radiation Protection
4. Record Keeping
5. Team Training
6. Health & Safety Legislation

Colleagues at all different stages of their careers, principals (old timers, there I said it), newly qualified dentists and hospital based folk all attend the meetings. I am very impressed with the calibre and dedication of the attendees, I personally have learnt a great deal out of every meeting.

Anwara and Nick run through the topics you need to study, they are knowledgeable tutors and teach using PowerPoints, discussions, handouts and practice questions.

Core skills on-line

Their website guides you through pulling together all the written work, photographic evidence, references, and helps you produce your case presentation and clinical audit. Here are some more website features:

1. There are suggested references with direct links straight to the online resource
2. You can upload photographs of the evidence you need to provide
3. There is a detailed chart of your progress through each core skill
4. You can email queries to your mentor or ask for their feedback on completed sections of your work
5. There is a feature to pick up right from they section you were last working on
6. The site puts together your cv, a cpd log, a personal development plan

Conclusion

This is first rate, contemporary postgraduate dentistry, I have learnt a vast amount in the 12 months I have been attending the meetings. I have just signed up for another year and plan to do the qualification in 2011. The website is a brilliant tool to guide you through the preparation of your portfolio, it fun, informative and great for busy dental surgeons aiming at striking that work/life balance. Whether you plan to do the exam or not it will bring you bang up-to-date with core dental skills that are an important part of everyday dentistry.

Core skills website http://www.coreskillsonline.com/index.php

Study group http://www.merseymjdfstudygroup.com/index.php