Collaboration and Articulation, Dental Assisting Education



Collaboration and Articulation, Dental Assisting Education

A Successful DA-DH Bridge Program

Presented by:

Cynthia R. Biron, RDH, EMT, MA

Professor & Chair of Dental Health Programs

Institution and address:

Tallahassee Community College

444 Appleyard Drive

Tallahassee, FL 32304

Contact information:

bironc@tcc.fl.edu

Presentation synopsis: The Tallahassee Community College DA-DH Bridge program offers a guaranteed placement into the DH program. This guarantee is contingent on the student maintaining the minimum qualifications for the DH program. The student must successfully complete the first semester of the dental assisting program to be guaranteed a place in the dental hygiene program in the next year. They may transfer articulating courses from the DA first semester program into the DH program. Students who have not completed DH program prerequisite courses must finish the first semester of the DA-DH Bridge program and then enter the Pre-Dental Hygiene semester in the following spring semester to begin taking dental hygiene prerequisite courses. Streamlining the courses over the three-year period allows students to maintain higher grades, and work part-time as a dental assistant. They graduate from the dental hygiene program with dental assisting skills and have a greater appreciation for both disciplines as well as more job opportunities. To qualify for the DA-DH Bridge Program, the student must be a high school graduate or equivalent based on performance on the General Education Development (GED) tests. They must also test and place for College English Composition, College Intermediate Algebra, and College level Reading and Writing Skills. A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required for the DA program or the DA-DH Bridge program. A minimum GPA of 2.50 is required for the DH program. During the DA-DH Bridge program the students must increase their GPA to a 2.50 to enter the DH program.

In July of 2001 there were only three graduates from the ADA Accredited Dental Assisting Program at Tallahassee Community College. A plan had to be implemented to increase enrollment or the DA program would be closing within one year. To increase enrollment in the Dental Assisting Program, we opened the DA-DH Bridge Program in the Fall of 2001. Both DA program applicants and those applicants who were not in the top 30 of the applicants for the DH program were offered enrollment in the DA-DH Bridge Program. 18 students enrolled in the DA-DH Bridge Program in 2001 and in July of 2002, 13 students graduated from the ADA Accredited Dental Assisting Certificate Program. Each year since then, enrollment and graduates of the Dental Assisting Program have maintained or increased. While dental assisting faculty feared that this DA-DH Bridge program would only serve to increase enrollment in dental hygiene, the opposite occurred. After spending one semester in the DA-DH Bridge program, 50% or more of those who aspired to enter the DH program, chose dental assisting as a career over dental hygiene, or chose to complete the DA program first and to practice dental assisting for awhile before considering entering the dental hygiene program.

Now students enter the DA-DH Bridge program prior to completing prerequisites for the DH program. This year 22 students entered the DA-DH Bridge program. 11 remained in the DA Program, six(6) failed out of the first semester and five(5) are in the Pre-Dental Hygiene semester taking prerequisite courses and guaranteed entrance into the DH program in August of 2007. Many of the students who originally thought they wanted a career in dental hygiene, like dental assisting so much that they elected to stay in the pathway for a dental assisting career. The students recognized the benefits of completing the entire 11 month dental assisting program prior to entering the dental hygiene program. This was especially true if they had completed DH prerequisite courses prior to entering the DA-DH Bridge Program. All of the statistics on student choices of pathways will be included in the presentation of the TCC DA-DH Bridge Program. The course sequence of each of the following pathways will be presented in a flow chart that will enable participants to create a similar plan for their own programs.

At the end of the first fall semester, students may choose one of four pathways:

1. Seek employment as a non-certified dental assistant and take part time courses to complete Expanded Functions courses and the Radiology Certification courses for the State of Florida requirements. They may choose to remain a non-certified dental assistant, or after two years of working for a dentist, choose to sit for the Dental Assisting National Board Examination (DANBE) to become a Certified Dental Assistant CDA.

2. Continue on in the ADA Accredited Dental Assisting Certificate Program through the Spring and Summer semesters and graduate with a certificate in Dental Assisting from TCC. At that time they may sit for the DANBE to become a Certified Dental Assistant (CDA).

3. Enroll in the Pre-Dental Hygiene Courses, and as a qualified applicant, enter the Dental Hygiene Program the following August.

4. Graduate for the ADA Accredited Dental Assisting Certificate Program, go on to practice as a dental assistant and be guaranteed a place in the dental hygiene program if enrolled within 3 years of the time they graduated for the DA program.

Specific Learning Objectives

At the completion of the presentation, the participants will be able to:

1. Describe the methods for developing a DA-DH Bridge program.

2. State the benefits of such a program for articulation and collaboration between the two disciplines

3. Create a plan for implementing such a program using the curricula of their own programs.

4. Describe the impact the bridge program would have on their programs.

5. State the pathways for students enrolled in a bridge program in their school.

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