CC management

Ok ladies, I got ahold of Lynn Getz at Madison (MCTC) regarding the way their program handles tracking "continuous care" patients.  Since I did this via email, I'm not 100% certain that she understood my questions, or that I understood her responses, but I'll pass along what I THINK we are both talking about...

From what I understand, the students are primarily the ones responsible for keeping track of their CC pts.  The DH students are informed of the need to really follow ALL of their patients through all of their appointments until the DH student graduates.  Lynn suggested that since their program is much smaller and deals with many less patients than the U of MN, the opportunity for pts to get "lost" in the system is probably not as much of a concern as it is here.  Students really the ones in charge of calling their pts to get them back in for their recalls.  The "group directors" get updated lists of the names of pts their students have treatment planned and provided some type of treatment on.  The students are responsible for updating this list with their group directors a few times each semester, and show the instructor what the treatment plan was, what the student has completed, and what the next step/recall is.  Although the focus is for the students to really take responsibility of keeping these patients in the system, the clinical instructors/group directors are there to help nudge the students and make sure they are doing this.  At the end of the year, when the "senior" class graduates, the patients are assigned to a new student within the same clinic group.  This helps ensure the patients are seeing the same faculty and DDS every time they come in for an appointment, so this adds another level of accountability, and hopefully, the faculty can help track patients in a non-structured way. 

I am hoping to visit Lynn at MCTC over spring break or after the end of the semester this summer, so if I can get more clear answers to some of my questions, I'll be sure to pass on the info to y'all.

Have a great weekend! See you all Monday!

IERC

Hello ladies...
Not sure about you, but I really enjoyed our tour of the IERC on Monday. Even thought I have been involved in the DH student OSCEs, it was still really cool to see the other areas instead of the tech room. And the medical rooms in the basement were very cool!! It is exciting to think about all the great learning that is happening under our feet every day, and that our building is on the forefront of teaching some leading doctors and nurses. I am excited to think about how we can potentially utilize the IERC for continued DH exams and testing of skills. After we left Monday evening, my mind started running of all the OSCE exams we could do for the DH classes (if money was not in the equation, of course) and how great the learning experience would be for the students!! We are very lucky to have this ability to conduct these types of exams, and after seeing all the "behind the scenes" stuff, it interests me even more now!

Need some help...

Ok, I am trying to finish up my FMP protocol, and I am having a hard time finding the protocol for classifying perio as "generalized" or "localized"...I suddenly cannot remember if it's generalized if it is 8 or more TEETH, or 8 or more SITES, or if it is at 1/3 of the TEETH in the dentition affected in 1 site or more that makes it gen...

Can one of you please set me in the right direction? It's one of those things that the more I think about it, the less sure I am! 

Thanks for your help! Hope you're all enjoying your weekends!

FMP protocol

Hello Friends!

Well, after Monday's class, I have a much better idea of what direction I should be heading with this protocol.

After a long afternoon of reading research, I have found some articles to support my idea of performing FMP at every recall for Perio Therapy/Maintenance patients, as well as some articles that strongly advise FMP at every recall for all patients since some areas of bone loss have been shown to be random, and not necessarily due to obvious risk factors.

The other thing that I came across, which I never really thought too much about, was patients with diabetes or smokers.  We all know that these patients are at a high risk for periodontal disease, or increased progression of it, but I have never heard of any FMP protocol addressing these issues in an attempt to closely monitor changes in PDs or bone levels.

I know it may seem a little extreme, but I am now planning on implementing guidelines for smokers and patients with diabetes into the FMP protocol...why not? We're just throwing ideas out there right?  In a real world setting this type of protocol may not be realistic, but I thought I would try it just for fun.

Wish me luck! See you all Monday, hope you have a great weekend!!

Protocol

Hey everyone, 

Sorry this is so late...I was in WI rubbing a pregnant belly this weekend, and really didn't want to leave. 

I talked to Lynn Getz at the Tech College in Madison earlier this week, so I didn't ask about their FMP protocol.

The program accepts 36 DH students in the fall and includes 4 core semesters. Students are encouraged to take elective courses during the summer months so they are not trying to do them simultaneously with their core DH courses.

There are 6 FT DH faculty, and 15 PT faculty including 5 DDS from the community.  The PT faculty are not allowed to be more than 50% time, while the FT faculty are scheduled 5 days a week on campus. They are not allowed any days during the week for private practice work (they are expected to do this over the summer and during breaks), however, they are all scheduled one day without student contact to help develop courses and prep for clinics.  

I thought this was interesting because I know the U of MN allows one day during the week to stay active in private practice when they are FT.

I am trying to find some articles for support on the FMP protocol, but will not be ready with much for class tomorrow. My initial thought is that anyone who has had Periodontal Therapy should have probing measurements taken at every recall, but I don't really have any articles supporting this theory of mine. Hoping to have much more later this week.

See everyone at class.

Clinic Coordinator

Ok, so I'm a little disappointed in the responses I received, but I didn't email right away either, so that is my own fault. I tried to go visit the technical college in Madison, WI since I was there on Friday, but the program director was not going to be there that day. I talked to one of the two clinic coordinators on the phone, but I know she was on a time crunch, so some of the responses are a bit short. This is what I found out...

Like most of the schools you ladies have mentioned, there are two clinic coordinators - one for each class. 

Each coordinator is responsible for scheduling the students in the clinics and external rotations, faculty calibration, maintaining safety and OSHA regulations and protocols, making sure the first aid kits and emergency equipment is stocked and ready, monitoring sterilization, ordering new instruments, assessing success of clinic rotations and determining if changes need to be made, didactic teaching, keeping track of student evaluations and graduation requirements, meeting with students to discuss their progress, and remediation when needed.

Most of the clinic protocols are first developed by the clinic coordinators, then brought to the rest of the DH faculty at staff meetings for discussion and final revisions.

Communication seems to be an important aspect to MCTC's DH program. There are faculty meetings every other week, as well as email reminders sent out after the meetings.  

There are not as many employees at MCTC as at the U of MN, and it sounds like the lines of communication are very open, but also, other faculty members are willing to step in and help out when the coordinators need it.

That's the majority of the conversation...I am still hoping to visit this school the next time I am in Madison, since it is city I have been interested in relocating to previously, so I will try to get more information then.

Whew! I'm ready for bed! See you all tomorrow!

KJ