CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 1

18 | 2018 | Issue 1 N ews and E vents to develop new educational activities promoting the integration of competencies. It will not affect the recruitment and selection of students for dental schools.  How are the competencies assessed? AC: Assessing will be the responsibility of each dental faculty. However, for each competency in the framework, we propose components to illustrate the various aspects of the competency. For each component, there is a list of must-have indicators that will be assessed in the certification process, but each dental program can also develop their own indicators.  Dr. Best, can you tell us about the faculty experience of implementing this new framework? LB: The approval of the new framework was quite timely for UBC Dentistry, as our DMD program is undergoing a curriculum renewal. We held several workshops to help faculty members incorporate the competency document into their syllabi and write objectives that reflect the competencies. When we input the learning objectives and competencies into our curriculum database, we could also map the NDEB KSA reference points to all the new competencies. We incorporated this new framework into all the syllabi in the four years of our program.  Why is it important for the faculty to implement this framework? LB: The framework really reflects the competencies expected of a newly graduated general practitioner. It also borrowed from the CanMEDS framework for medical students, so we are able to identify the commonalities with this other health profession, which creates opportunities for meaningful interprofessional education. Also, the 5 competencies are very easy to remember, as opposed to the 47 competencies from the previous document.  Based on your experience with the new framework, what are the benefits that you have noticed from implementing this framework? LB: Having a simpler framework has made it easier to engage the faculty and the students. We have used it during student orientation to explain the core learning objectives in course syllabi and how everything that they are learning in the program addresses one or more of the competencies. Having a common framework across all Canadian faculties of dentistry is meaningful to students, and it can be used to enhance collaborative projects in the future. We are proud to tell our students that this is a document that has been approved across the country. All dentistry students in Canada are striving to achieve the same competencies. That helps with the engagement and the acceptance of the document. a DEFINITIONS Competency: A global statement of the complex knowledge, skills and attitudes required of a beginning general dentist. Component: Aspects of a competency that help elaborate and illustrate its meaning. Indicator: Specific knowledge, skills and behaviours that can bemeasured as steps towards developing the competence. CanMEDS: A framework from The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada that identifies and describes the abilities physicians require to effectivelymeet the health care needs of the people they serve. These competencies are essential, because being a dentist is more than just performing a crown or filling procedure, it is also about demonstrating professionalism and being able to communicate with patients, staff and other professionals. – Dr. Anne Charbonneau To listen to interviews with Drs. Charbonneau and Best, visit oasisdiscussions.ca/ 2017/05/29/acfd-2