To me, competencies reflect that of students who are able to show their knowledge along with the application of skills developed through adequate education and experience. These competencies set a guideline that students must meet before they can be considered professionals. While these guidelines are not always easy tasks, as a student in this program we are more than capable of meeting the required criteria. Through the process of being tested on competencies, we can learn a lot of useful information that will aid us in being critical thinkers, students, co-workers, and healthcare professionals.

COMPETENCIES

1.0  Graduates must be competent in providing the dental hygiene process of care including assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation, and documentation to people of all stages of life, ages, and cultural backgrounds.

2.0  Graduates must be able to demonstrate competence in the ability to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate the oral health needs of community based programs.

3.0  Our graduates must be competent in communication skills with individuals, colleagues, and other health professionals from diverse backgrounds.

4.0  Graduates must demonstrate competence in ethical and professional standards both in their conduct and the delivery of evidence based dental hygiene care.