• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.315-321
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• 2022

Objectives: Although the number of clinics offering temporomandibular joint (TMJ) physical therapy has been increasing to help with its treatment, the scope of dental physiotherapy reflected in the dental hygienist curriculum is very limited. This study aims to survey the status of dental physiotherapy work and the need for educating dental hygienists. Methods: An online community platform was used to survey 140 dental hygienists working in clinical dental hospitals. The survey included questions about general characteristics, the experience of dental physiotherapy work, the importance of physiotherapy work performance, and the need for physical therapy education for dental hygienists. Results: Half of the study participants had prior experience working in dental physiotherapy. Out of 140 participants, 88.6% agreed with the opinion that 'physical therapy work is important or that it will become important'. Furthermore, 84.3% agreed that 'physical therapy education is necessary for dental hygienists'. Even dental hygienists without physical therapy experience (50.7%) believed that related education would be necessary because of the importance of physical therapy work in dentistry. Conclusions: This study suggests the need for education in dental physiotherapy to help dental hygienists effectively perform clinical tasks.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine the business awareness of dental coordinators and preferred working condition according to educational period, to suggest what improvements should be made. A survey was conducted for a year and four months from March 2007 to June 2008, and the collected data were analyzed, which made use of ${\chi}^2$(Chi-square) test, t-test. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. In regard to preferred conditions of employment, a dental hospital (42.0%) was most preferred by the incumbent dental hygienists investigated, followed by a dental clinic(29.4%). The largest number of the students who took dental coordinator courses had a liking for a dental hospital(41.9%), followed by university hospital and general hospital(29.0%)(p<0.001). 2. As for perception of dental coordinator, all the dental hygienists were aware of that occupation, and most of the students(81.9%) were cognizant of it(p<0.001). Concerning the necessity of that occupation, the students who felt the need for that(94.8%) outnumbered the dental hygienists who did(85.2%)(p<0.05). 65.9 percent of the dental hygienists and 84.5 percent of the students looked upon a dental hygienist as the best occupation that also could serve as a dental coordinator(p<0.01). 3. Concerning a favorite type of work including an official title, the dental hygienists wanted to work as the chief of counseling section the most(34.1%), and the largest group of the students hoped to become a section chief or team leader(35.2%). In regard to the most integral field of work, the dental coordinators(51.1%) and students(65.8%) attached the most importance to counseling(p<0.05). 4. The dental hygienists were better gratified than the students in every regard(p<0.001). The former($4.00{\pm}0.41$) looked at that occupation in a better way than the students($3.81{\pm}0.50$) as well(p<0.01). The abovementioned findings suggested that it would be advisable to provide dental hygienists with a certain level of a clinical career with education in order to ensure the success of dental coordinator education.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2009

The realistic problem about the dental hygiene education in our country is what the correlation between theoretical education and clinical education is short, and what the systematically clinical-practice education is failing to be realized. In order to solve this problem, the aim is to introduce preceptor and to present necessity in order to apply preceptor to the practice education for dental hygiene department. 1. What is the largest in the difference between the observation experience and the performance experience by element in clinical-performance activity is the patience-care service sphere(P < .001). 2. A hospital with the highest observation-practice experience level in children with the observation experience by hospital was in order of K hospital, Y hospital, H hospital, B hospital, and A hospital(P < .001, P < .01). 3. A hospital was the highest in the difference of the performance-practice experience level by hospital. And, the next was in order of H hospital, Y hospital, K hospital, and B hospital(P < .001, P < .01). 4. As for recognition on importance of clinical-practice activity in dental hygienists, the dental hygienists with more than the third year were indicated to be the highest than the dental hygienists with less than the 3rd year among 58 dental hygienists. Given seeing the results of this study, the more systematic and educational clinical-practice environment will need to be improved by suggesting a role of preceptor and to seek for a plan for application in the clinical-practice education.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.139-144
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate practice rate of dental hygiene assessment and to understand the performance ratio according to hospital type. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 195 dental hygienists, and the dental hygiene assessment items examined were 6 types of dental history, medical history, vital signs measurement, extraoral examination, intraoral soft tissue examination, andtissue examination. As a result of the study, the item with the highest percentage of performers was 92.8% of dental history, and the lowest item was extraoral examination 57.9%. And, dental clinics were higher than dental hospitals and university hospitals in all dental hygiene assessment categories, and in particular, performance rates of extraoral examination and intraoral soft tissue examination were higher in dental clinics. Considering the overall high rate of dental hygiene assessment through this study, it is necessary to discuss the legal work of dental hygienists and to reflect the insurance fee.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.302-309
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• 2016

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between task performance, job satisfaction, and organizational contribution of dental hygienists, and to analyze the resulting impact on the organizational contribution of the dental hygienists. The study sample included 300 people working in a dental clinic during May 2016; data were collected through a self-questionnaire and an online questionnaire. Subsequently, 285 responses were analyzed. The results showed that a higher monthly income, business support services, and work satisfaction affect organizational contribution. The correlation of organizational contribution was the highest with business management in task performance and with work satisfaction in job satisfaction. In conclusion, a dental hygienist, who may have highest careers and is involved in the management of dental work, affects the organizational contribution of the dental clinic.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.488-494
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• 2016

The purpose of the present study was to examine dental hygienists' perception of the current national practical examination. This research was performed using 199 self-reported surveys answered by professors of dental hygiene studies and clinical dental hygienist. Frequency analysis, chi-square tests, and analysis of variance were performed by using IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 20.0. The results revealed that many of the respondents consider the current national practical examination to be neutral. They did not think that the current national practical examination questions are useful for assessing occupation-centric integrated clinical practice ability and counseling techniques for patient intervention. The professors of dental hygiene studies believed that among the research tasks required as mentioned in the national practical examination questions, dental polishing and tooth brushing education are of paramount importance, whereas clinical dental hygienists believed that ultrasonic scaling is the most important (p<0.05). Most of the professors of dental hygiene studies reported that they conducted skills education for dental polishing and tooth brushing education, while most of the clinical dental hygienists reported that tasks actually performed in the clinic included impression taking, model fabrication, ultrasonic scaling, and explaining treatment precautions (p<0.05). Therefore, these tasks can be effectively carried out with the improvement of the national dental hygienist practical examination.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2014

In this study we analysed frequency and importance of tasks, and education needs of 114 people working in dental clinics to be a reference of dental hygiene curriculum development. The results are as follow: The order of performance frequency is management support, preventive dental treatment, dental treatment assistance and oral health education, and the order of importance level of tasks and education needs is management support, dental treatment assistance, preventive dental treatment and oral health education. There is no statistically significant difference of performance frequency by general characteristics. The tasks considered most important level depending on general characteristics are oral health education in age of 40s (p<0.05), dental treatment assistance in dental hygienists (p<0.05), management support in women (p<0.05), dental hygienists (p<0.05), and more experienced workers (p<0.05). The most need for Educations depending on general characteristics are oral health education in women (p<0.05), dental treatment assistance in women (p<0.001) and dental hygienists (p<0.001), and management support in Seoul region (p<0.05). The importance of tasks and education needs have correlations. The results showed management support and dental treatment assistance are considered important in dental clinics and most needed job competency for dental hygienists.

• 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 dental hygiene science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.241-251
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• 2018

This study was based on the experience of dental hygienists' role conflict, and attempted to grasp the nature of the dental hygienist role conflict factor, constituent factor and coping. Giorgi's phenomenological method was used to analyze data collected through in-depth interviews with nine dental hygienists working in a dental clinic. The analysis revealed three central meanings: task scope, role conflicts, and role conflict management style and limitations. In the first category, task scope, the range of the legal scope, and the duties performed by the dental hygienist differed slightly. The second category included role conflict due to interpersonal relationship, work, work environment, competence, and identity as a professional because of role conflict. The third category included the role conflict management style and limitations. Dental hygienists tried to solve the role conflict situation through various efforts. In the face of the reality that the conflict is not solved despite such efforts, the dental hygienists felt the limitation and chose to leave. Dental hygienists are dissatisfied with their roles because of confusion regarding professional values and lack of awareness of the professional workforce due to differences between legal scope and actual practice. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to develop a tool to quantitatively measure the level of role conflict in dental hygienists and to conduct follow-up studies on the effects of coping strategies by role conflict situations.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.115-127
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• 2023

Background: This study was conducted to determine the level of job satisfaction and patient safety cultural activities for dental hygienists and to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and patient safety cultural activities. Methods: A survey was conducted on 214 dental hygienists, and data from the final 180 were analyzed. Job satisfaction consisted of a total of 20 questions, and patient safety cultural activities included a total of 25 questions. The survey was conducted on a 5-point scale. Results: The average job satisfaction score of the study subjects was 3.44 points. Among patient safety cultural activities, infection control had the highest average score (4.12 points) and radiation safety management had the lowest average score (3.10 points). Patients with less than 3 years of clinical experience (4.01 points) had higher patient safety culture activity scores than those with 3 to 10 years of clinical experience (3.72 points) and those with more than 10 years of clinical experience (3.69 points). The level of patient safety cultural activities was statistically significantly higher as age, less clinical experience, and job satisfaction increased (p<0.05). Conclusion: In the case of dental hygienists, patient safety cultural activities must be carried out throughout the entire work, so an active will to practice patient safety cultural activities is necessary. In order to improve the performance of patient safety cultural activities, it is necessary to adjust the workload of dental hygienists to improve job satisfaction and create a work environment in which they can focus on patient safety cultural activities.