查看文章

The Relative Needs Index (RNI) Study applied indicators of patient-perceived treatment needs (ie symptom-based measures of disease, and social and psychological consequences of oral diseases and disorders) and compared them to a clinical judgment of urgency of care. The RNI study sought to determine the relative need of patients attending for emergency and general dental care by assessing both patient-perceived need and a clinical determination of need stratified into a hierarchy of urgency of care.

At present there are no criteria or protocols in place that can be used to check or assess the reasonableness of a patient’s presentation for emergency dental care or even the relative need or priority of patients on the waiting list for general dental care.