Foundation Endodontic Educator Fellow shares her passion for developing talent—and honing students’ referral skills For the Foundation’s 2021 Endodontic Educator Fellow, Dr. Ana Cristina Andrada, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, mentoring students’ dental expertise also means fostering their judgment around which cases belong in the hands of an endodontic specialist. A Born Mentor
Director of Predoctoral Endodontics at VCU, Andrada relies on the Objectively Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) assessment developed by AAE member educators with Foundation support as a critical tool in training future general dentists. “It’s not uncommon to see new graduates eager to take any case, but we prepare them with the OSCE assessment form to determine if they’re going to be able to effectively handle that case,” Andrada says. “We tell them you to use the assessment form and refer if warranted, and be happy with doing the crown.
In cases when they think they can manage it but later realize, ‘this is more than I can do responsibly,’ we’ll talk about recognizing limitations and being in close contact with specialists.” Implementing this assessment tool—which provides quantifiable measures upon which to base a decision to refer out a case— has become even more important as some programs shift to an “integrated” approach that replaces specialty departments with a general clinic in which all work is overseen by a general dentist.
“The specialists are there for consultation, but a general dentist is overseeing every single case,” Andrada explains. At VCU, Andrada says her general dentist colleagues appreciate a collaboration of specialist experts. “Just this morning a patient came for endo. I spoke with the GP to discuss restorability, then we got the periodontist involved, and we all made a decision together. I don’t think it should be one dentist treating the entire case. Even though [the general dentists] are going to be by themselves in their offices, they’re always going to have the support of their referral base.” Andrada says she thinks the change to integrated programs is tied in part to the urgent shortage of endodontic instructors, underscoring the critical need for the Foundation’s role in endodontic education support.
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