Table 1

Comparison of the American Dental Hygienists' Association priority items listed for the ‘Professional Education and Development’ theme5 10

Forrest et al (1995)10Forrest and Spolarich (2009)5
  • Investigate the extent to which new research findings are incorporated into the dental hygiene curriculum.

  • Investigate the extent to which students are taught critical thinking and decision-making skills.

  • Identify the factors leading to curriculum modification and reform in dental hygiene academic programmes.

  • Investigate the extent to which students are taught self-assessment and evaluation skills.

  • Develop a predictive model for future needs/demands for dental hygiene personnel.

 
  • Investigate the extent to which new research findings are incorporated into the dental hygiene curriculum.

  • Validate and test measures that evaluate student critical thinking and decision-making skills.

  • Evaluate the extent to which current dental hygiene curriculum prepares dental hygienists to meet the increasingly complex oral health needs of the public.

  • Critically appraise current methods of evaluating (assessing) clinical competency.

  • Investigate how other health professions have established the masters and doctoral levels of education as their entry level into practice.

  • Identify the factors that affect recruitment and retention of faculty.

  • Assess how educators are socialising students into research.

  • Investigate curriculum models for training and certification of competency in specialty areas.