Curriculum alternatives in graduate dental hygiene education

The nursing profession has designed a variety of curriculum options for individuals who wish to pursue graduate education in nursing. These options have been created to meet the changing needs of their profession, society, and potential students in the field. The profession of dental hygiene has similar needs. Presently there are only nine programs granting graduate degrees in dental hygiene. More graduate programs are needed to fulfill the future demands for educators, researchers, and practitioners with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide advanced levels of care in a variety of practice settings. Unfortunately, a mean of only 20 students earn the MSDH degree annually. Often potential applicants are not geographically mobile, have family commitments, or may desire dental hygiene as their second career. Based on a review of the literature and a needs assessment of all dental hygiene programs nationally (n = 237), two accelerated graduate programs have been proposed. One program has been designed for individuals with associate degrees in Dental Hygiene and the other for non-dental hygienist college graduates. Distance education and web-based courses are integral parts of both curriculum designs.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Not Listed

Year dc:date.available

2001

Author dc:creator

• Grilli, Jennifer Hubbard

Contributors dc:contributor

• Christina DeBiase.

• Dentistry
• Health Sciences
• Education
• Higher education

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/1286

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-2289