Objectives:The purpose of the study is to investigate and analyzed the current status of a dental hygiene curriculum according to the dental hygienist competency. Methods: The study subjects were 59 courses in the department of dental hygiene in G University from April 1 to May 30, 2015. Except for liberal arts, 51 courses were finally selected and analyzed for the relationship between the curriculum and competency. For each course, systematic reviews were made by subject name, core competency, achievement goals, lecture hours, weekly themes, and learning goals. Three experts in the dental hygiene evaluated and analyzed the association of competency and goals. Results: Each course was operated by the goal from one to twenty two competencies of dental hygiene. Achieving one item of competency in a course required 13 hours on the average from minimum 2 hours to maximum 30 hours. More than 20 courses were operated and more than 900 hours were necessary for achieving the competency. The competency included the contents of 'Be able to utilize basic medical and dental knowledge in dental hygiene care and patient care' among the dental hygiene competencies. Conclusions: Competency based dental hygiene education will provide theoretical background for defining the identity of dental hygienist as a health care worker and to encourage professionals who contribute to the recognition of healthy society. Further research should be continued for improving the competency-based dental hygiene curriculum and education methods for implementing the curriculum within the paradigm of health care services.

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The purpose of this study was to provide basic data to standardize the clinical dental hygiene curriculum, based on analysis of current clinical dental hygiene curricula in Korea. We emailed questionnaires to 12 schools to investigate clinical dental hygiene curricula, from February to March, 2017. We analyzed the clinical dental hygiene curricula in 5 schools with a 3-year program and in 7 schools with a 4-year program. The questionnaire comprised nine items on topics relating to clinical dental hygiene, and four items relating to the dental hygiene process and oral prophylaxis. The questionnaire included details regarding the subject name, the grade/semester/credit system, course content and class hours, the number of senior professors, and the number of patients available for dental hygiene clinical training purposes. In total, there were 96 topics listed in the curricula relating to clinical dental hygiene training, and topics varied between the schools. There was an average of 20.4 topic credits, and more credits and hours were allocated to the 4-year program than to the 3-year program. On average, the ratio of students to professors was 21.4:1. Course content included infection control, concepts for dental hygiene processes, dental hygiene assessment, intervention and evaluation, case studies, and periodontal instrumentation. An average of 2 hours per patient was spent on dental hygiene practice, with an average of 1.9 visits. On average, student clinical training involved 19 patients and 26.6 patients in the 3-year and 4-year programs, respectively. The average participation time per student per topic was 38.0 hours and 53.1 hours, in the 3-year and 4-year programs, respectively. Standardizing the clinical dental hygiene curricula in Korea will require consensus guidelines on topics, the number of classes required to achieve core competencies as a dental hygienist, and theory and practice time.

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The aim of this study was to analyze in depth the standardized Clinical dental hygiene curriculum of the Fones School in the United States. We investigated the clinical dental hygiene curriculum in 2015∼2016 including title, credit, hours, contents, goals, competencies, and evaluation. We obtained the course syllabus and data related to each subject, for each grade, from the professors and students at the university. The goals and competencies, of the clinical dental hygiene program, which were based on the goals of the Fones School and the mission of the University of Bridgeport, were developed in accordance with the dental hygienist practice standards proposed by the American Dental Hygienists Association. The curriculum consisted of theory to teach proper dental hygiene care procedures and incorporated practical exercises that modeled an actual clinical setting. The students had to document the procedures performed for each client/patient and improve their clinical competency through discussion with the professors. Dental hygiene care should be provided for children, adolescents, adults, elderly, and patients, which includes patients with moderate or severe periodontal status. Students were evaluated by a paper test or case study presentation and their clinical evaluation was based on their clinical competency. In particular, professors evaluated students on a rotational basis, so they could evaluate the level of achievement of clinical competency of all students and find ways to improve any weaknesses. Therefore, the current study suggested that clinical dental hygiene program in Korea could be improved if based on the curriculum of Fones School in the United States.