Meeting & Agendas

The October 12, 2015 minutes were approved electronically. Copies were available to review.

Report from the Dental Hygiene Department Chair • Informational: Legislative session Texas Legislature on-line: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ HB 1201 & SB 430: regarding expanding the scope of practice to allow administration of local anesthesia SB 313: regarding the continuation of the State Board of Dental Examiners [Sunset Bill] There was an informal discussion of the bill passage process & current State Board composition/issues. Dr. David Yu shared his insight regarding his service on the Anesthesia Blue Ribbon panel appointed by the State Board of Dental Examiners as directed by the Sunset Commission • Desire to modify Admissions Selection Process, adding items with holistic approach Members were asked to respond to the following questions: Consider bringing on a new dental hygienist into your clinic/work environment, in addition to being technically competent: 1) What characteristics/traits/attributes would you like the new employee to possess? 2) In what ways can we assess those characteristics/traits/attributes? Responses: - Flexibility - Ability to multi-task - Adaptive - Passion/love for dentistry - Eagerness to learn/continue learning - Desire to further the profession - Leadership skills - Creative thinker The Department Chair will: survey admissions processes of other hygiene programs; confer with the ACC OTA and PTA programs for their assessments and use of the TEAS assessment; and investigate some sort of on-site essay process/interview/orientation sessions

• Curriculum Changes The Committee was provided with the degree plan reflecting the changes agreed upon in the fall and approved by the College’s Curriculum Committee - The speech course was removed and content reflected in DHYG courses across the curriculum continuum - Chemistry was added back and sequenced in the first semester of the Program - Members speaking to prospective students were requested to HIGHLY encourage those to take the chemistry course(s) prior to expected enrollment due to the intense nature/rigor of the first semester DHYG course content • CODA Approval Without Reporting Requirements: the Program returned to full approval by the Commission on Dental Accreditation based on the above noted curriculum changes, effective February 2nd, 2017 • DarkRoom renovation completed over the winter break: the completion of the conversion from chemical processing to digital imaging was finalized with the renovation of the DarkRoom providing the students access to two Air Techniques phosphor plate scanners and two Digora magnetic-phosphor plate scanners; two workstations are sit-down stations and two workstations support stand-up processing. Committee members toured the facility.

MS Sara Hernandez communicated that Capital IDEA is expanding to Williamson & Hays counties; Dr. Simone Garza was asked by Capital Dental Society members to express concern over new graduates asking for entry hourly wages above what is most likely the norm (i.e., $42/hr) – the Department Chair was not able to provide an average wage figure for comparison. When questioned Dr. Ensy Atarod confirmed that HAAM participants are being partially funded by St Davids & referred to the Texas Dental Foundation, therefore no longer treated via the St Davids van clinics.