EXPERIENCE OF THE FACULTY OF STOMATOLOGY IN BELGRADE IN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE QMS Introduction The Faculty of Stomatology in Belgrade is the oldest institution of this type in Serbia, founded by the act of the Government of the People’s Republic of Serbia on 21 June 1948. The dentists were educated before the 1948 in this region. They were the initiators of the contemporary dental medicine and science , who acquired their basic medical education at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, and specialized in tooth and mouth cavity diseases at some of the Faculties of Stomatology in Europe or at the only institution of the dental medicine – the Dental Medicine Department of the Public Hospital which has over time become an Odontodental Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine. The first curriculum plan and program was made in accordance with the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade and other stomatology faculties in Europe. The teaching process at the Faculty was further improved and the curriculum plans were adapted according to the directions of development of the stomatology science and practice in the world. Present 5-years basic study plan and program is up-to-date, contemporary and, according to the Bologne Convention, to a large extent in conformity with the programs of the EU faculties of stomatology, namely in conformity with the program of the faculty of stomatology in Dublin, Ireland. The study program is completely covered with the main and supplementary textbooks, practical courses and atlases which, in addition to the mandatory lectures, makes good ground for effective and interesting studies. The task of the Faculty is, by using the contemporary educational methods and techniques, to qualify young experts to be able to offer to their patients the highest quality services, and also to develop in them a tendency towards continual development. In this way, the faculty serves their students, their families and the entire country residents. The main activity of the Faculty is to organize, carry out and improve main, specialist and doctoral studies as well as scientific and research work. The Faculty of the Dental Medicine in Belgrade is a member of the Association of the Faculties of Medicine of Serbia and Montenegro and a member of the ADEE (Association for Dental Education in Europe). Organizational structure of the Faculty of Stomatology in Belgrade The Faculty, within its structure, has 12 internal organizational units: 1. Clinic of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry 2. Clinic of Oral Surgery 3. Clinic of Maxillofacial Surgery 4. Clinic of Periodontology and Oral Medicine 5. Clinic of Prosthodontics 6. Clinic of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics 7. Clinic of Orthodontics 8. Basic Medical Institutes' Subjects 9. Clinical Medical Subjects 10. Secretariat of the Faculty 11. Institute of Dental Health Care 12. Technical Services The organizational units of the Faculty are part of and created according to the type of activity and needs of the working process. Their legal and organizational position is defined by law and the Bylaws of the Faculty. They are not legally independent and the employees have the rights and obligations that are stipulated by law referring to organizational units. Organizational units of the Faculty are divided into three major groups: 1. Educational-scientific organizational units 2. Educational-scientific and health care organizational units 3. Organizational units of common administrative and technical services Because of its European orientation, the Faculty of the Stomatology has set a strategic objective, that is an integration into the European academic field and accreditation according to the faculties of the stomatology in the EU. The management of the faculty has set the first and most important task, which is monitoring and improvement of education. In that respect, in 2003 the faculty initiated three projects in parallel. The first project is the change of the teaching process through the quality management system (ISO 9001:2000). The second project is the change of the curriculum plans and programs according to the Bologne Convention, while the third is the surveying of the students organized by Strategic Marketing; the aim of all this is to change the study regime (ECTS). Model of QMS in education at the Faculty of Stomatology For the Faculty of Stomatology, ISO 9001:2000 is a specific approach to governing and management, characterized by setting and achieving the objectives aimed at fulfillment of requirements, needs and expectations of the students, along with the use of the resources available at the faculty. The faculty is managed in such a way that the main requirements and needs of the students are the driving force for all the activities; in a word, the entire faculty and all of its resources are subjected to the students. How did the Faculty of Stomatology come to the idea to implement ISO 9001? The work on the project started in May 2003. The working group was first formed and then presented by the group official who was over the time nominated to the position of the Quality Management Representative. Then a consulting company from Belgrade was engaged. As never before, the entire faculty was scanned, from the dean to the porter. This was done during the screening of the faculty in order to make the operation plan, then during the internal audit and during the pre-assessment. The training for the top management was carried out, followed by the training for the second and third management level, including the training for auditors. A list of documents was made. Quality policy was defined and made available by the dean. All the documents were systematized in four levels: quality manual as the main document, procedures, instructions and records. There are 12 procedures regarding control of documents, corrective actions, preventive actions, staff management, development regarding the improvement of the teaching program and assurance of traceability in the process of teaching. Also, five instructions were made: - Instruction for the protection of documents and data on electronic media - Information booklet for the students - Dealing with specialized literature - Ethical code of the Faculty of Stomatology What are the benefits of these efforts? The Faculty of Stomatology today is the organization whose managing has been arranged according to the international standards, therefore the cooperation and entering the contracts with foreign faculties and institutes is to a large extent easier. Owing to this fact, in 2005, the Faculty of the Dental Medicine in Belgrade signed a contract about the cooperation with the Faculty of the Dental Medicine UCLA (University California Los Angeles) and thus became their “sister” faculty in Europe. Additionally, a number of international scientific and research projects have been initiated at the faculty. Walking towards the future – a step into the XXI century The management of the Faculty, including the entire staff, in their overall activities prove that the Faculty of Stomatology in Belgrade is not only the initiator but also applies a contemporary complex educational, scientific and health care activity in the field of stomatology in the Republic of Serbia. In this triplet of activities there is a dominant current understanding of human health as a result of the interfering influence of genetic factors, but also of the environment, risk factors, biological, chemical-physical, cultural and social genesis, where the oral health is only a segment of the entire human health. The curriculum programs, plans and the practice of scientific researches, as well as health care activity of the clinics and other specialized organizational units of the Faculty of Stomatology in Belgrade have been and are now guided towards this direction. By both its spirit and deed, this faculty has become a distinct institution existing as one of the corner stones of the entire complex up-to-date system of the health protection of the Serbian population. The scientific and specialist orientation – threading itself through the curriculum programs of the Faculty, including the character of the health care activity practised by the dental service - is from the beginning, as well as today, based on the application of the doctrines of a socialized dental protection, whose foundations, key of success and achievements are made possible by a programmed and organized preventive activity with a parallel development of the relevant dental clinical disciplines. A successful, almost 6-decade long development of the Faculty of Stomatology in Belgrade, as an educational, scientific and health care institution, undoubtedly proves that its role and place within the system of the health care in the country have been confirmed many times in terms of concept, content, doctrine-methodology and operations. In order to maintain and improve the affirmed conception, affluence of contents and contemporary work methodology in all three activities of the Faculty of Stomatology in the future, i.e. to ensure further development of the Faculty in terms of science and profession, the specialists’ collective of the Faculty is ready to make efforts towards several strategic commitments and development directions which will increase the educational and scientific level of the Faculty in the time to come: • Even better provision of the means and devices for work and introduction of new technological methods • Innovation of curriculum programs and introduction of new specific fields of operation in health care • More intensive support to the multidisciplinary approach in the field of scientific researches, as well as in the diagnostic-therapeutic activity • Strengthening the cooperation with relevant scientific and specialized institutions home and abroad in the field of the science and specialized activities • Improvement and better organization of programmed vocational advanced training of dentists • Making the activity program in order to create conditions for continual improvement of the Faculty, within the scope of the implementation of the standard ISO 9001 • Strengthening and extension of the status of the Faculty as a national reference institution for the area of the stomatology and dental service • Strengthening of editorial and publishing activity YUQS Organization for Quality Systems Certification Ms Sofia Djurdjevic Trg republike 3/l CS-11000 Belgrade Serbia Tel: +381 11 2621-239 Fax: +381 11 2626-349 office@yuqs.org http://www.yuqs.org