• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.499-506
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the participation motivation and satisfaction of continuing education in the dental hygienists. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 900 dental hygienists in Seoul and Gyeonggido in continuing education 2015. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects (7 items), continuing education requirements (6 items), and continuing education evaluation (9 items). Cronbach's alpha was 0.859 in participation motivation and 0.901 in satisfaction. Likert five point scale was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 program. Results: The priorities of the contents were as follows; patient care and counseling(49.0%), the latest information and technology(43.9%), middle management roles(23.3%), health care management(17.6%), and lecture studies(4.4%) in order by multiple responses survey. The favorite instructors were specialized dental hygienist(52.3%). The ideal pay for education fee was 50 percent supported by the institution. The best official announcement of education was e-mail. The participation motivation of education was 4.45 points and was focused on the education completion issue. The lowest score was 2.77 of development of human relationships between participants. The choice for instructor was 3.43 and the lowest score was 2.49 of education fee. Overall satisfaction score was 3.04. Conclusions: Diversification of the continuing education is very important. It is necessary to develop and implement the education methods and to train the dental hygiene specialists for the education.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.207-219
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• 2019

Objectives: This study investigates the dental hygienist's main duties in clinical dental practice and examine whether dental hygienists can safely perform each duty by referring to the educational contents of dental hygiene departments and national examinations of dental hygienists. Methods: A questionnaire on the main duties of dental hygienists was administered to 477 clinical dental hygienists working at dental clinics and hospitals, general dental hospitals, and university dental hospitals in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Incheon. We divide the dental hygienists' clinical dental hygiene practice and clinical dental assist and analyze the legal scope of practice, university educational contents, and national examination contents. Statistical analysis was performed through frequency analysis, and multi-frequency data were analyzed using Excel 2013. Results: All 48 items (except 2 items of 29 dental hygiene practice and 21 assist practice items) surveyed were covered in the National Examination for Dental Hygienists and included in the Dental Hygiene Education Learning Objective. The multi-frequency clinical dental practice of eight items of clinical dental hygiene practice and two assist practice items were within the legal scope of the dental hygienist's role. Conclusions: Further discussions are needed to redefine the legal scope of the role of the dental hygienist.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.789-794
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• 2014

The increasing cross-border mobility of dental school or dental hygiene students, educators, practitioners, programs and providers takes challenges for existing national quality assurance and accreditation frameworks and bodies, as well as for the systems for recognizing foreign qualifications. The new dental hygiene accreditation system was introduced to encourage the improvement of dental hygiene programs, to ensure the quality of education and, most of all, to establish an internationally compatible system of evaluation and accreditation. The accreditation procedure takes 1 year to complete. The result of the accreditation is released after evaluation via self-study report, site visit, preliminary draft report, responses from the institution and the results from the conciliation and review committees. The result from the accreditation procedure is either 'accreditation' or 'no accreditation'. Accredited schools receive one of several statuses following the evaluation. These are next general review, interim report and interim visit or suspension. Dental healthcare quality is not improved instantaneously, but instead gradually through continuous communication within the dental field. For this accreditation system to be successful, the following are essential: the accreditation agency should adopt hygiene education accreditation; it needs to become financially independent and managed efficiently; the autonomy and regulations surrounding the system need to be balanced; the professionalism of the system is ensured; and the dental field which includes not only dental program, but also hygiene program, needs to play an active role in the operation of the system.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.149-158
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• 2011

Objectives : The objective of this study was to analyze cognition and status of oral health education of dental hygienists who manage the patients visiting dental clinics and to utilize the findings as continuous study data required for development of systematic oral health education program for management of peridontal disease of adults. Methods : Survey was carried out for 261 dental hygienists working in dental clinics who are performing oral health education of patients with peridontal disease living. Results : 1. In the socio-dynamic diagnosis, it was analyzed that, the younger the age is and the lower the career is, the more the work is centered around assisting medical treatment job and, the older the age is and the higher the career is, the work is centered around oral health education job. 2. In the behavioral diagnosis, it was analyzed that, as to source of knowledge acquisition, guide of dentists and senior dental hygienists was the highest and, as to education media, visual education and demonstration education were mainly used. 3. In educational diagnosis, as to the degree of knowledge about oral health education and the degree of practice, it showed that the degree of knowledge was lower than the degree of practice in peridontal disease process and oral prophylaxis as well as scaling part. 4. In both the cases of independent practice and group practice, it showed that the most frequent obstacle was insufficient educational materials and tools and it was analyzed that acquisition of new knowledge and technology is required as a matter to be improved. Conclusions : It seems to be required for the dental hygienists to develop detailed knowledge and professional technology in order to induce actions and motive of patients during oral health education of peridontal patients and to develop and produce data for efficient education of peridontal patients.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.119-132
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to introduce PBL to dental hygienist education in an effort to raise a question about the inauthentic and inappropriate curriculum. PBL is one of learning methods to enhance the problem-solving ability of learners, and it's attempted to develop a PBL package focusing on dental hygienist roles to lay the foundation for producing competent and expert dental hygienists with a good problem- solving ability. The literature concerned was reviewed from November 2002 through January 2003 to determine whether or not PBL was applicable to dental-hygienist course, and that turned out to be effective for dental hygienist education. And then a PBL package was developed to train students to be knowledgeable and have a knowhow and excellent problem-solving skills. The characteristics of the PBL package could be described as follows: First, that focused on dental hygienist roles to serve the purpose of this study to remedy the current unrealistic and improper curriculum and improve the problem-solving skills of learners. Second, time factor was taken into account. In this four-week course for two credits, there are four classes a week, and it's required to take six or eight weeks to apply the PBL package, which is expected to demotivate students. Therefore, it's planned to conduct more weekly classes to make a proper progress. Third, a wide variety of teaching aids were put to use, and learner would be encouraged to be more interactive and utilize teaching aids properly, and eventually, they could have an opportunity to better express themselves. Fourth, online real-time learner discussion would be attended by this researcher. Learners would have a discussion in real time in the Internet cafe chat room, and different discussion time would be allocated to each team. This researcher would take part in each team's discussion once or more. Fifth, learners would prepare one or more journal(s) about four-hour Internet cafe learning. They have to make it twice a week at least, and it would be a good opportunity for learners to look back on themselves and their teams, and their learning effect would be greater. Specific rules were presented to help them make a successful self-examination. Sixth, there are some spaces in the lower part of objective test sheets to have students describe why they make a particular answer choice. They would be asked to depict the reason of their prior evaluation and lecture assessment especially because their responses would be important for more successful discussion and feedback. Seventh, problem-solving approach was designed to attain learning objectives, stimulate the creative thinking of learners and help them share a more systematic discussion. That would serve as a secondhand guide not to make them digress when they discuss by using information they acquire from a scenario presented in class.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.195-206
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to provide the basic data that can help the development and quality management of effective continuing education programs by analyzing the status and demand of continuing education contents for dental hygienists. Methods: The questionnaire had 30 questions, which included 5 questions on general characteristics, 4 on continuing education status, 3 on online continuing education, and 18 on desired continuing education. The survey was conducted for the members attending continuing education programs in 2018. Results: The mean age of the participants was 30.08 years, with an average career of 8.19 years. The continuing education was highly recognized, through the homepage of the association (52.5%); as speakers for continuing education, dental hygienists in the field of specialization were preferred (45.8%). Additionally, the preferred frequency of programs was twice a year (45.7%). For promoting continuing education, the use of mobile phone letter was preferred (65.8%). Moreover, 92.9% of respondents were aware of online continuing education, 49.9% had experience in online continuing education, and 59.9% said that they will actively use smart devices in the future. The requirement for the contents of continuing education was the highest at 4.34 points for health insurance cost and the lowest at 2.75 points for liberal arts classes. Conclusions: To provide effective continuing education, it is necessary to develop a customized continuing education program considering various variables, such as career, work place, and career break experience, thus reflecting the systematic requirement of surveys according to each characteristic.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.197-207
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• 2020

Objectives: To provide basic information for improving the professional image of the dental hygienist among adults who visit the dentist. Methods: From December 5, 2018 to January 25, 2019, 214 adults in Seoul or Gyeonggi filled out a Google online questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple regression analysis. Results: The overall average score of the professional image of dental hygienists was 3.59. In addition, there were significant differences in the image according to age, education, and occupation. The image according to the dental visit experience was highest for those providing orthodontic treatment. The difference in professional image recognized by the dental hygienists and the patients was highest in the case of those dental hygienists responding that they had been educated at a four-year university, who were considered as medical practitioners, and were called a dental hygienist. Lastly, the factors related to the professional image of the dental hygienist were positively affected in the case of preventive purpose of visit, and graduate or higher education of the patients. Conclusions: In order to establish the professional image of dental hygienists, public relations for adequate occupational awareness of their work should be continued. Additionally, it is necessary to establish the role through the systematic expansion of the professional image and their being considered as medical professionals, reflecting the reality of the work field.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2020

Background: In Korea, laws for many medical technicians were revised in the Enforcement Decree of the Medical Technicians Act (MTA), which was announced on December 2018, whereas those related to dental hygienists remained unchanged. This study aimed to determine the awareness and opinions of dental hygienists regarding MTA. Methods: Dental hygienist were recruited as participants via convenient sampling in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Chungcheong-do; data from 291 self-reported questionnaire responses were used for the final analysis. We investigated the participants' general characteristics, awareness, and request for the amendment of the MTA. The compliance with the work scope specified in the MTA and level of demand for revision of the MTA were analyzed by independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance. For all statistical analyses, the significance level was set at 0.05. Results: For the 2018 MTA revision, 99 (34.02%) knew that dental treatment assistance and surgery assistance were excluded, whereas 192 (65.98%) did not know. The item "The current medical technician law must be revised" was scored 4.13±0.80 out of 5 points, and significant differences were identified according to the education level, career, and position (p<0.05). The item "It is necessary to institutionalize the expanded work scope beyond the work scope of dental hygienists specified in the MTA" was scored 4.02±1.04 out of 5 points, and significant differences were identified according to age (p<0.05). Conclusion: The participants wanted the MTA to be revised to reflect the real-world work performed by dental hygienists in the dental clinical field. The legal system must ensure the legal protection of the work area of the dental hygienist as an oral health professional, and recognize the legal work scope of the dental hygienist.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.369-376
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• 2013

Objectives : The objectives of this study is to investigate the handwashing and use of personal protection equipment in dental hygienists and provide the basic data for dental infection control guideline. Methods : A questionnaire survey was performed in the dental hygienists who participated in the continuing education by the Daejeon City Commission in October 2012. The collected data were analyzed using PASW 18.0. Results : Handwashing was well practiced in group working for 3 to 5 years of employment. Those who took the infection cnotrol training used liquid soap, paper towel, dental mask, protective goggles, face shield, and gloves. Conclusions : Infection control is the most important practice in dental hygienists. So it is necessary to emphasize the inportnace of personal protection equipment including medical gloves, dental mask, and goggles.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1115-1125
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• 2018

purpose : The purpose of the study is to investigate opinion on the legalization of the actual work of clinical dental hygienists. Methods : A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 171 dental hygienists in Busan and Gyeongnam from December 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018. Structured questionnaires were uesd for analysis. The collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS. Statistic 20.0. Results : The first, assist of dental treatment, Second, dental health care education and consulting duties, and third priority preventive duties were found to be the most important duties in the dental office. Currently, it was investigated perform in a lot of workplace. Preventive treatment tasks include scaling, teeth polishing, applying fluoride and assist of dental treatment include preparation for medical care, preparation for implant surgery, preparation for oral surgery, implant surgery assistant and patient care training, and preparation for periodontal surgery. Conclusion : As a result, the dental hygienist performing a lot of dental assist tasks, oral health education counseling and preventive duties. Nonetheless, clinical dental hygienists are outlaws due to the disparity between practical and legal duties. Therefore, it is urgent to legislate actual duties of dental hygienist so that experts can fully exercise the competency of the public in promoting dental health. Relevant governments and related organizations should take reasonable measures to solve this problem.