Title
Dental Director Report - Cockey
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Dental Workforce Recruitment
We are in the process of recruiting a dentist for our North Chicago practice location and interviews began on July 30, 2019. I recently met with our recruiters regarding the open dental assistant position at our NorthShore site. At the present time we have no applicants. In speaking with a few other community health centers, they too are experiencing issues with hiring dental assistants. Our recruiters will provide their assistance in this hard to fill position. The position was originally posted October 2018.
As I mentioned last month, we are still exploring the idea of having dental assistant students complete their externship at our practice locations. We hope to fill both of these positions soon as this impacts patient access to dental care.
Illinois Primary Health Care Association
We recently received a donation of blood pressure cuffs from the Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA). This donation was made possible by the DentaQuest Organization. The cuffs shall be distributed to each of our dental practice site locations and will be used by the dental hygienist to conduct blood pressure screenings for adult patients.
Dental All Staff Presentation
We would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Robert Hartman, our lead OB/GYN physician for his lecture to dental staff in which he reviewed the ACOG 3013 guidelines pertaining to caring for the OB dental patient. We have a large OB patient population within the Community Health Center who are referred to us for dental care. This could be a targeted population for the newly hired dental hygienist.
I hope to have additional dental staff in-service presentations by our medical staff on various medical topics that impact the care of our dental patients.
Dental Operations Updates
• Development of the KPI’s for the Dental Team
• Revisions to our Dental Inventory Supply List
• Will soon be conducting Dental Assistant Skills Assessment for The Joint Commission requirement
• Onboarding of the Dental Hygienist as well as Skills Assessment Completion - start date 8/5/19
• Creation of Clinical Workflow Guidelines based upon Evidence Based Practices for the Dental Hygienist
Suggested Motion
None, for information only.