The CRDTS Report - Central Regional Dental Testing

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Volume 8, Issue 3
August, 2010
Central Regional Dental Testing Service, Inc.
The CRDTS Report
Acting Editor: Lynn M. Ray, BS, RDH
Launch Team for Hygiene Electronic Scoring !
Back Row: Janet Primiano, HI; Dave McDermott, President, Premier One; Kim Laudenslager, Staff; Tunday Anday, GA;
Cynthia Fretland, MN; Darlene Carritt, NE; Gwen Hlava, NE; Dr. Julie Marshall, NE;
Front Row: Amber Riley-Burns, WA; Penny Fudally, ERC Chair; Marilyn Sailer, ND; Cathy Cornell, ND.
DENTAL HYGIENE UPDATE
by Penny Fudally, RDH, MEd, Hygiene ERC Chair
The majority of the hygiene clinical testing is completed and we accomplished an incredible, successful examination season with the implementation of electronic scoring. To date we have tested over 1200 candidates in over 30
sites during this new technological era and more hygiene examinations for 2010 are scheduled in August, September and
December. Teamwork, diligence and dedication made this a successful 2010 hygiene-testing year. Examiners worked
hard to strive toward our goal of an outstanding national hygiene clinical examination. Through their collaboration, we
continue to build a valid and reliable hygiene clinical examination and promote the high standards that CRDTS represents as a testing agency.
The picture above shows the first hygiene clinical examination team for 2010 utilizing the electronic scoring
technology at Argosy University. This team, as well as 70 plus other hygiene examiners, embraced the concept and
technological application of using electronic scoring devices with professionalism.
The CRDTS Hygiene Examination Review committee met on July 10-11, 2010, at the Kansas City Airport Hilton, Kansas City, Missouri. During the August Annual Steering meeting, recommendations from this committee regarding the 2011 Hygiene Examination will be addressed. This committee will continue to make every effort to address
comments, suggestions and feedback given to this committee by examiners, candidates, patients and faculty. We place
great significance on all input and value the information provided to this committee.
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The CRDTS Report
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
My how time flies! It seems that only a
short time ago, I assumed the position of
CRDTS’ President and yet that occurred in
November of 2008. In a few short weeks, I
will turn the gavel over to Dr. Tony Malaktaris as he assumes the Presidency of
CRDTS. I cannot think of a more capable
person to lead CRDTS to new horizons.
As I look back over the last two years, I think it is instructive to appreciate where we were at that time so that we can
measure what gains our organization has made. Two years ago,
we were part of a larger organization with its own committees,
structure, bylaws, and governance. CRDTS had little control
over our destiny as we were usually outnumbered and outvoted
on many important issues. Without going into unpleasant details,
the bottom line is that CRDTS could not provide the necessary
service to its member Boards and our associated educational institutions. We were failing them, and fortunately, our membership decided to withdraw from the ADEX experiment and once
again become an active, independent test development and administrative agency. We quickly reactivated our dental and dental hygiene Examination Review Committees, rolled up our
sleeves, and went to work. Under the leadership of our committee Chairs Penny Fudally, RDH and Dr. Steve Holcomb, we recruited excellent, dedicated and extremely talented committee
members representing our state Dental Boards. Our teams have
created the best exam constructs that I have ever been involved
with. Our professional staff, including Ms. Kim Laudenslager,
Ms. Kimber Cobb, and Ms. Lynn Ray, have worked tirelessly
making our examinations what they are today.
Your Steering Committee approved the funding for
an Invitational Conference meeting, at which important issues
such as examination security and psychometric evaluation
were explored as they relate to various components of licensure examination processes. CRDTS invited and funded participation from other testing agencies, including independent
states. The professionalism and trust developed as a result of
that conference will continue to pay dividends to CRDTS and
our mission. The basic theme and tenets developed at that
conference also provided the program for last year’s Annual
Meeting. I hope you believe as I do that the program was of
great benefit to those in attendance.
One of the highlights of last year was the hiring of
our Executive Director, Dr. Jake Lippert. Jake, a well-known
CRDTS examiner, proves to be an excellent Executive Director with each encounter that I have with him. He has indeed
brought our team together. As a result, our offices work
seamlessly so that the goals established by our staff, our committees, and the Steering Committee can be achieved.
You will hear about further developments including the electronic scoring systems and the development of the Dental
Therapist exam for the Minnesota Dental Board elsewhere in
this newsletter and at our Annual Meeting. Our accomplishments are many and our work continues. I thank you, the
CRDTS membership, for allowing me to be a part of this success.
MINNESOTA DENTAL THERAPIST
TASK FORCE—Report by John Cosby, DMD, Chairman
On November 7, 2009 the CRDTS Steering Committee
authorized the formation of an ad hoc committee for the purpose
of creating a dental therapist clinical examination at the request
of the Minnesota Board of Dentistry. As Chair of that committee,
I appointed Dr. Steve Holcomb, Ms. Kimber McCoy, and Mrs.
Lynn Ray to the committee, pictured here with Minnesota Board
representatives, Dr. Joan Sheppard, Dr. David Linde and Mr.
Marshall Shragg. We began to study the Minnesota statute which
defines the tasks, skills, and abilities in the scope of practice for
this new dental mid-level provider. Two educational programs
were created in Minnesota for the purpose of providing didactic
and clinical training for the Minnesota Dental Therapist. Metropolitan State University’s program has seven students who are
licensed RDH’s, currently have a BS degree, have at least 1000
hours of clinical practice, and are working toward their Master’s
degree as a Dental Therapist. This program has a strong emphasis on public health and will graduate their first class in the summer of 2011.
The second program has been developed by the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Their program is de-
signed to integrate the Dental Therapist with the dental students
so that they are trained to be part of the dental team. One standard of care is taught and both dental and dental therapy students will work in the same clinical environment. The BS program in Dental Therapy requires a high school degree, 12
months of didactic prerequisites, and 28 months in the program. The Masters program is designed for adult learners, emphasizes public health leadership and education, and confers a
professional degree at graduation with 28 months in the program.
On June 19, 2010, the CRDTS representatives met
with representatives from both dental therapy programs and the
Minnesota Board of Dentistry at the Board’s office. The dental
therapy scope of practice was reviewed along with the curricula
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Volume 8, Issue 3
Dental ERC Update
The 2011 dental
examination
format (manikin
and
patientbased) has been
diligently
reviewed
and
finalized by the
Dental Examination Review Committee (DERC).
The Summary of 2011 Changes includes combining the criteria for the
anterior and posterior endodontic procedures (for scoring purposes only),
medical history changes, updates to the
amalgam and posterior composite criteria, multiple restorative treatment selection options and increased flexibility
By Stephan Holcomb, D.M.D.
within the open schedule format.
The use of specific DERC subcommittees for meticulous scrutiny of
the examination format has proven to be
an increasingly effective mechanism for
testing section review. The recommendations provided by the subcommittees
are presented and discussed by the entire
DERC before voting on the report submitted to the Executive and Steering
Committees. All final decisions concerning the recommendations of the
DERC are made by the CRDTS Steering
Committee.
The Dental Calibration Committee (DCC) has received the 2011 report of the DERC. The task of the DCC
is to develop calibration and standardization materials that accurately reflect the
President-Elect’s Message
content and criteria of the approved examination format. The DCC is constantly in
need of new clinical images of all parts of
the examination. These images can include preparations, final restorations and
radiographic images. The DCC welcomes
all images of any level of performance –
SAT, ACC, SUB or DEF. Please submit
any images to Kimber McCoy and accept
our appreciation!!
Once again, thank you for the
opportunity to work with the dedicated and
incredible professionals on the DERC and
DCC. We solicit input from all examiners
through either direct comments/suggestions or through the current examiner feedback process. The CRDTS National Dental Examination is a product of all of our
efforts!
by Tony Malaktaris, DDS
Greetings to all from the North Country; I hope everyone is having a great summer but the time is fast approaching
for another annual meeting and the start of a new exam season. I
for one am excited for both.
As President Elect my primary job for the year has
been to organize the annual meeting being held in Kansas City
on Aug. 26th—28th. Once again this year’s annual meeting will
concentrate on our Member States with speakers and break-out
sessions devoted to educating and answering questions about
CRDTS and our examinations. We will have Dave McDermott
from Premiere One giving a Power Point Presentation on Electronic Scoring, showing what we have today and what we plan
for the future. We will have Dr. Steve Holcomb along with
Kimber and Lynn give another Exam Comparison to keep our
Board Members current on what the differences are. We will
have Joey Bly give a presentation on Central Office so we can
show everyone what our great staff does to keep this organization running smoothly. Once again Dr. Marv Dvorak and Lynn
Ray will give a presentation to our State Board representatives
and new examiners. Lynn Ray and Kimber McCoy will provide examiner profiles this year and have worked tirelessly to
gather the information needed to generate these reports.
As for my term as President, I hope to continue where
our past-president left off with major goals to include development and administration of an examination for the Mid-level
Provider Program in Minnesota; further development of the
electronic scoring system; continued efforts to reestablish examinations in Iowa and Missouri; consideration of examination
opportunities in new states. My list will continue to grow as
the year progresses but the foundation is set and we must continue to improve and develop relationships with our Member
States.
I would like to personally thank our staff at Central
Office and in Oklahoma and Colorado for all they have done
for CRDTS. Without these hard working and dedicated employees we would not have been able to bring CRDTS and our
examinations to their current level and we will continue our
work to take it to the next level.
Minnesota Dental Therapist Task Force Report (continued)
of both programs. Dr. Holcomb, CRDTS’ dental ERC chair,
gave a PowerPoint presentation outlining the basic constructs
and requirements of the CRDTS Dental Examination. Kimber
McCoy and Lynn Ray provided valuable input into this presentation. It was agreed by all participants that CRDTS would develop criteria comprising one standard of care that would not
deviate from that required of dental candidates. The Minnesota
Board of Dentistry would assist CRDTS in defining what content would be included in the clinical exam. This meeting of the
Task Force was extremely productive, effective, and collegial.
All participants benefitted and left with a clear understanding of
our goals and processes that would be used in the examination
development phase.
Dr. Holcomb will create a special subcommittee of the ERC for
the purpose of defining criteria and content of this exam. We
will publish our candidate manuals in January 2011, Beta test
the Manikin exam in February, then in April, CRDTS will offer
the entire exam for Metro State candidates and perhaps the
manikin exam for Minnesota candidates. In September/
October of 2011, we will offer the patient based exam for the
Minnesota candidates or perhaps the entire exam. Much work
needs to be done within this next year and CRDTS is committed to develop a valid and reliable assessment process for these
Dental Therapist candidates. This project is a unique demonstration of CRDTS’ mission to serve the assessment needs of
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our Member State Boards.
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The CRDTS Report
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
TOPEKA, KS
PERMIT NO. 545
1725 SW Gage Blvd.
Topeka, KS 66604
Phone: 785-273-0380
Fax: 785-273-5015
E-mail: crdts.org
CRDTS ANNUAL MEETING SPECIAL EVENTS
TOUR of KANSAS CITY:
Examiners, spouses, and guests are welcome to take part in a tour of Kansas City
historical sites. We will view the Quality
Hill area, Lewis & Clark Point, the Missouri River and many more. Stops will be
made at Union Station, the National World
War I Liberty Memorial and Kauffman
Gardens. There is a $30 per person fee and
space is limited so notify Central Office
right away to reserve your spot.
We will be departing the Hilton at 8:30am,
Friday August
PRESIDENT’S MEET & GREET:
Friday, August 27th
7:30—9:00 p.m.
Cash Bar and Snacks
DINNER AND DANCE:
Saturday, August 28th
6:00—10:00 p.m.
Casual Western Attire
Wildfire Dance Band
Cash Bar
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