BEST PRACTICE IN COLLABORATION AND ARTICULATION



BEST PRACTICE IN COLLABORATION AND ARTICULATION

BROWARD COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S “ONE PLUS ONE” DENTAL HYGIENE PROGRAM

Presented by:

Joyce Abraham, CDA, R.D.H., B.A.

Institution and address:

Broward Community College

3501 SW Davie Road

Davie, FL 33314

Contact information:

954-201-6904

jabraham@broward.edu

Presentation synopsis: Broward Community College’s Dental Hygiene Program is classified as a non-traditional “one plus one” dental hygiene program. Traditionally dental hygiene programs are two years in length plus one year of prerequisite and general education courses, totaling approximately three years for the acquisition of the Associate in Science degree in dental hygiene. The pathway at our college is considered non-traditional as we offer an alternative road for students to achieve the same Associate in Science degree objective.

The first part of our “one plus one” program is a ten month dental assisting program accredited by CODA. Upon successful completion, the acquisition of the CDA national certification, completion of the prerequisite courses and a minimum 2.5 GPA, the student is able to submit their application to the twelve month dental hygiene program. This application must be submitted within three years of graduating from the dental assisting program. Thus the total education is approximately three years as it is for the traditional dental hygiene track.

How do we achieve this? This is where we achieve the goal of successful collaboration and articulation. As it is known there are several courses in a dental hygiene curriculum that are matched in a dental assisting program. Broward Community College insures these courses taught in the dental assisting program meet the curriculum guidelines of CODA accredited dental hygiene programs. As a result these courses are able to articulate into the dental hygiene program. One may ask how the dental hygiene student can experience the required number of pre-clinic and clinic hours in this program. The actual number of pre-clinic and clinic hours exceed CODA’s minimum requirement for traditional two year programs.

Florida’s requirement for all dental hygiene programs in the state are eighty credits total. This number includes prerequisite, general education and dental hygiene courses. According to the state, the dental assisting program is a Post Secondary Adult Vocational (PSAV) certificate. The college in collaboration with the state’s common course numbering system, levels the dental assisting courses articulating with the dental hygiene curriculum into college credits. The courses articulating from the dental assisting to the dental hygiene program are as follows: Dental Anatomy and Physiology, Dental Materials, Dental Materials Laboratory, Dental Radiography, Dental Radiography Laboratory, Preventive Dentistry, Expanded Functions I and II. The number of credits the college gives for these courses is fourteen (14). There are thirty six (36) prerequisite and general education courses and forty (40) dental hygiene credits.

Advantages to this program are as follows: The feedback from community dentists is outstanding as they appreciate our graduates are dually trained as CDA’s and R.D.H.’s. Many of our graduates enjoy doing both dental assisting and dental hygiene. There are several who may work in dental hygiene for three days a week and dental assisting two days a week. The reports are this definitely cuts back on “professional burnout”. As our students enter the dental hygiene program as CDA’s, their acumen for dental hygiene instrumentation comes quickly due to the already present intra oral dental experience. As our faculty have been educated and taught in traditional dental hygiene programs, the feeling is the students in our dental hygiene program proceed with patient care and treatment at an accelerated pace. In addition the attrition rate in the dental hygiene program is nearly zero. The “dental hygiene” courses given in the dental assisting program are markers for success. The attrition takes place in the dental assisting program. In order to continue in any of our program a grade of “C” or higher is required.

The outcome assessments of our “one plus one“ program speak for themselves. Since the year 2000 all of our students with the exception of two have been successful on the Dental Hygiene National Boards on the first attempt. In addition all the graduates have been successful on the Dental Hygiene Florida State Boards.

After completing the session about our “one plus one” program, the participant should be able to describe what is needed to be done to initiate collaboration between the state, the college, the dental assisting and dental hygiene programs resulting in articulation for the creation of a non traditional dental hygiene program upholding all the standards of both the dental assisting and dental hygiene curricula and programs.

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