COMMUNITY OUTREACH CLINICAL ROTATION
(CD857)

Course Director: Thomas J. Veryser, DDS MHSA


Community Dentistry 857 is an outreach rotation modeled on the Academic Service Learning format, and covers three essential knowledge areas for the effective practice of dentistry.

• Community Service
  
• Enhanced Academic Learning
  
• Education for Citizenship
  
  

By focusing on these knowledge areas, CD857 students gain multifaceted experience in all aspects of clinical practice.

Community Service Objectives

• Provide access to Oral Healthcare to an underserved population
  
• Appreciate the depth of unmet need in the underserved population
  
• Work with practitioners who serve the underserved population
  
• “Test Drive” Community Healthcare Clinics as a possible future career
  
• Get a “feel” for Dental Public Health as a specialty
  
Academic Objectives

• Work with and learn from trained Chair-side Assistants, Front Desk Staff and Hygienists
  
• Learn to interact with members of the medical, nursing, PA, and social work professions to provide care for patients and their families as a coordinated team of healthcare providers
  
• Enhance the number and variety of clinical procedures
  
• Enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills
  
• Experience an efficient and productive schedule
  
• Learn how to apply academic knowledge in the “real” world
  
• Understand the principles and issues associated with Practice Management
  
• Become familiar with clinical & administrative use of Practice Management Software modules.
  
• Strengthening listening skills with patients
  
Education for Citizenship Objectives

• Learning an ethic of caring for fellow citizens
  
• Learn about and experience other ethnic groups and cultures
  
• Increasing sensitivity to other ethnic groups and cultures
  
• Exploring personal values, ethics, and ideology
  
• Advancing students along a continuum toward social change
  
• Appreciating the positive effects that can achieved by active participation in organized dentistry via ADA, MDA, and Local District Society
  
  

The Praxis

Program structure and implementation

• D4 students rotate for a total of 3 or 4 weeks to one of six community healthcare sites.
  
• Except for Marquette, rotations will be …on 1 week – off 1 week – etc...for 6 weeks.
  
• Marquette is a continuous 2 week rotation.
  
• Students assigned to Marquette will be assigned to another clinic for one week.
  
Special Program Features

• Housing and meals are provided.
  
• Automobiles for transportation are provide.
• Seamless Distance Learning and communication
  
  • Notebook computers are provided at over-night sites.
    
  • email access via cable modem
    
  • Access to lecture materials via the UMSD Intranet
    
  • Lectures are video taped and transmitted “live” on the web, or recordings observed later.
    
  • Live webcasts may include real-time chat room interaction with the professor.
    
    
Requirements / Credit / Student Evaluations

• The rotation is a three credit course that will be graded based on attendance and preceptor evaluations.
  
• At the end of each week of rotation, a preceptor-dentist will evaluate student performance on a standardized form.
  
• At the end of the three week rotation, each student will evaluate the experience received at the clinic as well as the specific preceptors encountered.
  
• Successful completion of the assigned rotation is a requirement for graduation.
  
  

CD857 either directly or indirectly addresses the following Acreditation Standards of the Commission on Dental Accreditation:

• At a minimum, graduates must be competent in providing oral health care within the scope of general dentistry, as defined by the school, for the child, adolescent, adult, geriatric and medically compromised patient.
  
  
• Graduates must be competent in the application of the principles of ethical reasoning and professional responsibility as they pertain to patient care and practice management.
  
  
• Graduates must be competent in the use of critical thinking and problem solving related to the comprehensive care of patients.
  
  
• Graduates must be competent in the use of information technology resources in contemporary dental practice.
  
  
• Graduates must be competent in managing a diverse population and have the interpersonal and communication skills to function successfully in a multicultural work environment.
  
  
• Graduates must be competent in evaluating different models of oral health care management and delivery.
  
  
• Graduates must understand the basic principles and philosophies of practice management and have the skills to function successfully as the leader of the oral healthcare team.