National competencies for dental hygiene entry-to-practice.

Objective: While the dental hygiene profession has several national documents pertaining to entry-to-practice issues, it lacks a common national standard. The need for such a standard is becoming increasingly important with the divergence of entry-to-practice educational models across Canada, programs being implemented in new jurisdictions, and the entrance of multiple post-secondary organizations into the educational sector. The objective of the study was to articulate the first draft of entry-to-practice competencies that would be used to support dental hygiene education, accreditation, examination and regulation. What are the essential national competencies for entry-to-practice into the Canadian dental hygiene profession? Methods: A 3-day workshop was held in February of 2007 with twenty-two key dental hygiene informants from across Canada. The initial product from the workshop was then refined and shaped through two feedback loops with the participants. Results: The group developed a new framework for dental hygiene competencies based on the literature in interprofessional education. The core abilities focus on dental hygienists as professionals, communicators and collaborators, advocates and managers. The competencies related to the specialized client services focus on dental hygienists as clinical therapists, oral health educators and health promoters. Conclusion: This draft competency profile better aligns the dental hygiene profession within the context of other health professions. However, it is still in an embryonic stage and needs to be validated with a larger group of dental hygienists. It has the potential to be a positive force to support greater consistency of educational, and possibly regulatory, standards across Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]