scholarly journals Current issues and areas for improvement in the Korean Dental Hygienist National Licensing Examination: an expert Delphi survey among dental hygienists

Author(s):  
Yoon-Sook Hwang ◽  
Hyun-Sook Kang ◽  
Soo-Hwa Kim ◽  
Hee-Jung Moon ◽  
Sun-Mi Lee ◽  
...  

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate current issues and areas for improvement in the Korean Dental Hygienist National Licensing Examination (KDHNLE) through an expert Delphi survey.Methods: A Delphi survey was conducted from May through August 2016 in Korea. This Delphi survey included 20 persons representing the field of dental hygiene (7 groups from various dental hygiene-related organizations). The Delphi survey was administered through e-mail as 3 rounds of questionnaire surveys regarding the issues facing the KDHNLE and potential solutions to those challenges. The primary Delphi survey was an open questionnaire. In each round, subjects’ responses were categorized according to the detailed themes of their responses. The minimum value of the content validity ratio of the survey results was determined by the number of panels participating in the Delphi survey.Results: Issues facing the KDHNLE were identified from the results of the Delphi survey. The following 4 items had an average importance score of 4.0 or higher and were considered as important by over 85% of the panels: the failure of the practical test to reflect actual clinical settings, the focus of the practical test on dental scaling, the gap between the items evaluated on the national examination and actual practical work, and insufficiency in strengthening the expertise of licensed dental hygienists. The following items were suggested for improvement: more rigorous rater training, adjustment of the difficulty of the licensing examination, the introduction of a specialized dental hygienist system, and more rigorous refresher training for licensed dental hygienists.Conclusion: Based on the above results, the KDHNLE should be improved according to the core competencies of dental hygienists, including on-site clinical practice experience.

Author(s):  
Yoon-Sook Hwang ◽  
Jong-Hwa Jang ◽  
Kyung-Hee Kang ◽  
Minji Kim ◽  
Jeong-Ran Park ◽  
...  

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the level of professional ethics awareness and medical ethics competency in order to grasp the criteria of ethics items for the Korean dental hygienist licensing examination.Methods: Using a structured questionnaire, 358 clinical dental hygienists and e dental hygiene students were evaluated for their level of ethical awareness and medical ethics competency. The sub-factors of medical ethics were measured by classifying them into relationship with patients, medical and social relationships, and individual specialized fields.Results: As a result of the survey, the vocational ethics completion rate in the university curriculum was 32.1%, but 95.2% of respondents said that vocational ethics is important. Medical ethics competency was average, with a score of 3.37 out of 5, followed by ‘relationships with patients (3.75 points)’, ‘health and social relations (3.19 points)’, and ‘individual specialties (3.16 points).’ The level of vocational ethics awareness was higher in the group who completed the vocational ethics curriculum than the group who did not complete the course or the group who did not know whether to complete it.Conclusion: Dental hygienists are aware of the importance of occupational ethics, but medical ethics competency has been found to be at a mid-level. Therefore, medical ethics should be treated as a required subject in university curriculum, and medical ethics competency evaluation should be strengthened through adding ethics items to the Korean dental hygienist licensing examination.


Author(s):  
In-Soon Park

During the reign of Japanese Government-General of Korea (Joseon) from 1910 to 1945, the main health professionals who were educated about modern medicine were categorized into physicians, dentists, pharmacists, midwives, and nurses. They were clearly distinguished from traditional health professionals. The regulations on new health professionals were enacted, and the licensing system was enforced in earnest. There were two kinds of licensing systems: the license without examination through an educational institution and the license with the national examination. The Japanese Government-General of Korea (Joseon) combined education with a national examination system to produce a large number of health professionals rapidly; however, it was insufficient to fulfill the increasing demand for health services. Therefore, the government eased the examination several times and focused on quantitative expansion of the health professions. The proportion of professionals licensed through national examination had increased. This system had produced the maximum number of available professionals at low cost. Furthermore, this system was significant in three respects: first, the establishment of the framework of the national licensing examination still used today for health professionals; second, the protection of people from the poor practices of unqualified practitioners; and third, the standardization of the quality of health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 014-025
Author(s):  
Najat Abdrabbo Alyafei ◽  
Amani Adel El-Hamarnah ◽  
Syeda Hafsa Azhar ◽  
Belal Ghassan Mardieh ◽  
Mohammad Faris Alshwatereeh ◽  
...  

Bachelor's and diploma dental hygienists' practices vary in different countries regarding education duration, the scope of practice, salary, and challenges. The present review article aims to posit a comparison of the dental hygiene profession in Qatar and other world's countries as US, UK, Europe, Australia, Asia, and GCC countries; to identify the challenges and gaps of dental hygiene in the dental hygiene field in Qatar, and to set suggestions for dental hygienists' associations worldwide to resolve the present challenges that dental hygienists face. The review used various articles to explore the history of dental hygienists and compare the profession in different countries. The study adopted the scholarly publications that the researchers obtained from academic databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, published theses and dissertations, a popular news article, the trade sources commonly referred to as the trade publications, and government documents. The findings suggest that lower salaries and limited scope of work are eminent in Asia and GCC countries. European countries have different legislation for dental hygienists, making their scope of work limited to the country where the professionals study. This review also suggests the high level of stress, burnout, and musculoskeletal disorders among dental hygienist professions in most countries. We recommend resolving the dental hygienists' challenges by increasing awareness among the dentists, medical professions, and general public, standardizing their scope of practice, assigning those assistants, and giving those technologies to simplify their work.


Author(s):  
Sook Hyang Kim ◽  
Kyung Hee Song ◽  
Hyeon Sook Kwun ◽  
Seol Aak Kim ◽  
Jong Hwa Jang ◽  
...  

This study aimed to develop standard items for the Korean Dental Hygienists' Licensing Examination; these items were also earmarked for use in developing the curriculum for dental hygienists, and in writing a job description, based on a job analysis using the Developing A Curriculum Method (DACUM). It also aimed to understand the significance and frequency of task elements that dental hygienists perform. Data were collected by means of a mail survey, in the form of self-entry, from a sample of dental hygienists registered with the Korean Dental Hygienists' Association. In all, 260 responses were analyzed. The tasks of dental hygienists were divided into four categories, 93 tasks, and 494 task elements. There were 281 elements (61%) that scored higher than 3.5 in significance, in the 4-scale items, and 480 elements (98%) that scored higher than 3.0. There were 30 elements (6%) that scored higher than 3.5 in frequency, and 140 elements (29%) that scored higher than 3.0 in frequency. Overall, 130 out of 494 elements (27%) scored higher than 3.0 for both significance and frequency. Therefore, those 130 elements should be included as items in the Korean Dental Hygienists' Licensing Examination. The results can also be used for curriculum development and as the basis of a job description for dental hygienists.


Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Shawn C. Roll ◽  
Mark E. Hardison ◽  
Jane L. Forrest ◽  
Nikki L. Colclazier ◽  
Joyce Y. Sumi ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are prevalent in dental hygienists. Although engineering controls and ergonomic training is available, it is unclear why this intransigent problem continues. One possible barrier is that a comprehensive, standardized protocol for evaluating dental hygiene work does not exist. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to generate a valid and reliable observational protocol for the assessment of dental hygiene work. METHODS: An iterative process was used to establish and refine an ecologically valid video acquisition and observation protocol to assess key activities, tasks, and performance components of dental hygiene work. RESULTS: Good inter-rater reliability was achieved across all variables when the final coding scheme was completed by three independent raters. CONCLUSIONS: This work provides an exemplar of the process required to generate a comprehensive protocol for evaluating the work components of a particular job, and provides standardized nomenclature for use by scientists and practitioners interested in understanding and addressing the pervasive issue of work-related disorders in dental hygienists.


Author(s):  
Rumi Tano ◽  
Hiroko Miura ◽  
Katsuo Oshima ◽  
Kanako Noritake ◽  
Hideki Fukuda

Objective: The need to make sense of coherence in placement support for student dental hygienists has been shown. On this basis, this study investigated the relationship between the sense of coherence of student dental hygienists and their view of the profession and attitude to work in order to clarify how they perceive their prospects for employment. Methods: The subjects were graduation-year students at all of the dental hygienist training institutions in Japan, and anonymous, self-administered questionnaires were sent to the institutions by post in 2019. The results were analyzed by χ2 tests, as well as one-way analysis of variance and multiple comparisons using Tukey’s test, with the level of significance set at 5%. Results: Of 6270 questionnaires that were returned, 6264 were analyzed. The sense of coherence (SOC) component senses were manageability (F(26,221) = 5306.06, p < 0.01), meaningfulness (F(26,222) = 4373.48, p < 0.01), and comprehensibility (F(26,216) = 3986.12, p < 0.01), with meaningfulness scoring significantly higher than the other two (p < 0.01). Analysis with SOC scores divided into the low, medium, and high groups showed a relationship between the SOC of student dental hygienists and their view of the profession and attitude to work (p < 0.01), such that higher SOC scores were associated with a better view of the profession and a better attitude to work (F(26,225) = 282.18, p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results suggest that education that increases SOC in dental hygienist training programs may positively affect future prospects for student dental hygienists.


JAMA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 308 (21) ◽  
pp. 2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin W. Eva ◽  
Harold I. Reiter ◽  
Jack Rosenfeld ◽  
Kien Trinh ◽  
Timothy J. Wood ◽  
...  

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