Now that the OSCEs are over....

on to Quality Assurance. I have put together several evaluation forms. I have created an evaluation form for TAs (for both clinic and lecture) and an evaluation form for patients to fill out for students/faculty. I am going to test the TA evaluation form out on my group tomorrow - so it will give me a good idea of what the students think of it! I am still working on my Day Sheet Form as well. I can't believe the semester is almost over!

OSCE Calibration

I usually write my Blog on Monday, but I decided to wait until after our calibration session - to get an idea of how our OSCEs would go. Creating an OSCE was fun, and thanks to Kim's help - much easier to organized than I imagined. Having never seen an OSCE performed in the clinic, it was a bit more challenging to imagine how one might perceive it. You definitely gain an appreciation for the work that the IERC team puts into the OSCEs they create! 

Overall, I think I have more of an idea of how OSCEs work. I have a much better appreciation of the overall concept - and understand the concerns voiced by the faculty and students better now too. Kim was a great partner to work with - and we pulled it off!

Now to work on my Quality Assurance mechanism - evaluations for the patients and the students.

Quality Assurance & OSCEs

We have been working fast and furiously on our schedule for the OSCE (thanks to Kim getting the ball rolling). We have our cubicles assigned - now just to put our "OSCE"s together (and assign the faculty roles!).

I am working on evaluations for the clinic for my Quality Assurance project. I have made an evaluation for the patient to complete - evaluating the student. I am also working on an evaluation form for the students to complete for me (the TA). We shall see.

I spent the weekend in 70 degree sunshine - and it was hard to get any work done!

OSCE work

I have been working on my OSCE - and realizing that it is quite an undertaking to try to arrange things so that students don't share what the OSCE is all about. 

I am still waiting to here back about day sheets/encounter forms - but have a little more information from my old school clinic. Our encounter system is computerized - so there isn't really a form that the faculty fill out - it is more or less a series of steps they go through - very similar to when we enter the students' encounter forms in the computer. Students have to enter all the patient information into the computer - patient's chart #, check that patient name is correct, perio classification, deposit level, medications (already there from previous appt - but may need to update). Then, as the faculty checks the student - they are able to enter their comments immediately - on the computer - instead of having to write on paper first. There are computers in every cubicle, as well as docked along the cubicle corridors (for the faculty).

Much like our system here at UMN, students are graded for Assessment, etc. - except all of those areas are included in the number grade (1-5). There is a list a critical errors - and if a student has one critical error, his/her grade drops to a 1 and can't be any higher (no matter how perfect the rest of the appointment is). 

At the end of the appointment, the student enters the patient charges and if the patient is completed, enters a recall appointment month. If the patient is not completed, the student enters as "incomplete" - and the patient is tracked for the student - and rescheduled for completion.

Spring Break flew by...

I have to admit - I took the week off. Even though I packed my OSCE information along with me - I had no time to look at anything (I get carsick trying to look at things in the car). I looked over my OSCE things a bit last night, but have yet to make anything definitive yet. Still working on putting the whole idea together.

Frustrated with Google...

So, last week, in one of our other classes, we had to sign up for a Google account. Not thinking about this blog being associated with Google, I signed up with my school account and thought nothing else about it. It has taken me 3 days to get back into this column because of it. It would only recognize my school address - instead of my yahoo.com email address - and refused to let me into my own column - but now I made it back! I have been working on my OSCE a bit - but mostly just finished up my protocols/procedures. I found a few interesting articles on the history of OSCEs, and have enjoyed reading about the ideas behind them! 

Catching up...

UNC handles continuous care patients much like Kjersta's school - the students are mainly responsible for tracking their own patients. The students have a clinic ID, like the students here, and can use that ID to track everything from how many Class Is, IIs and IIIs they have had to how many broken appointments to how many pedo patients, etc. The computer program is linked to the faculty comments, as well as to the front desk. For a patient assigned to the student - the student can access his/her address, phone #, email, etc. When it comes time for the student to graduate, the student follows up with his/her patients - and the student's patient list is passed to the in coming class of students (except for patients needing for in depth care - those patients are taken over by an upcoming 2nd year student). The patient care coordinator for the students helps with patients who have "disappeared", as well as the front desk. 

Evaluation and digital radiography

I am bringing some copies to class - so maybe we will get a chance to go over our various protocols again. I investigated some more into digital radiography - what my hygiene school used. One day, I think it will be here too - and it creates a bit more confusion, but makes the darkroom a "thing of the past". I put together a digital radiography protocol - because that is what is instilled in my brain (from school), but left the infection control/processing eval just regular film.

Still working on protocols...

I found some interesting articles on both radiology infection control and prosthesis cleaning/infection control. I have added a bit onto the care for dental appliances protocol - and have an evaluation form for radiology infection control as well. I am also working on a digital protocol - which may not be very useful now - but maybe in the near future...

Protocols...

So, I decided to work on a protocol on Care of Dental Appliances in the clinic and a protocol on Radiology Infection Control - along with an evaluation of the process. I am still waiting to here back from some of my faculty about their various faculty numbers.

Clinical Directors - one university, one community college

I was so surprised out how fast my teachers responded (and that they remembered me!). I asked several different people about the clinical director position at their schools. The first response back was from my 2nd year "mother hen" at UNC. Here is her reply (in a nutshell):

We have 2 clinical "coordinators"- one for first year and one
for second year.  This is only one of their duties.  They also carry a
full teaching load, just like everyone else.  I am, as of this year, no
longer the senior clinic coordinator (wheee).  It is a lot of extra
work. 
Duties include:  creating student clinical schedules, arranging
clinical rotation sites, developing and coordinating those rotations,
problem solving clinical issues, calibration of clinical faculty,
calibration of students, teaching the clinical didactic courses,
development of the evaluation systems, recording and maintaining
clinical student records, clinical academic advising, student mediation,
developing clinical forms, (I probably could go on forever).  These are
the main things.
Most protocols are initiated by the coordinator, but are tweaked
and approved by the entire dh faculty.  We don't coordinate the clinical
supplies, sterilization , etc. because we are in a dental school and
that is taken care of through our Clinical Affairs department.

Even though there are two clinical coordinators at UNC - the duties are similar to those here at UMN. I
specifically asked about the sterilization & supplies - because I had a hunch that someone was in charge
of that!

My other contact was my local anesthesia teacher. She works at a community college in Arizona - another
awesome teacher - and very quick responder of questions! Here is her reply (in a nutshell too!):

We have 1 program director and 2 clinical coordinators (our version of
directors).  Our coordinators are also resident faculty members.  I am the
first year clinical coordinator and Mona Latimer is the second year clinical
coordinator. Our duties are pretty much the same as we are responsible for
entering grades, keeping track of clinical competencies and watching to make
sure we don't run out of supplies.  We have a very competent person who takes
care of all the ordering, maintenance, inventory and storage of our supplies.
We all work together to make sure the students have what they need to succeed.
Our staff has formed a 'learning community' of sorts and we communicate every
day.  We are able to meet student issues head on and immediately before they
become extreme problems. We manage the sterilization, protocols and policies
together. Most of the polices were in place when I arrived so all I had to do
was to 'tweak' things as I went along.  I feel fortunate to have the
environment I have here.  There is an 'open door' policy among the instructors
and our constant communication is definitely a benefit to our students.

I wasn't surprised at the difference. It seems that the duties at the community college
are much better "distributed amongst the ranks"!

I can't wait to see what everyone else found out!

My First Blog

Here we go!