Clinic Coordinator and Management at VCU

I emailed my questions to Joan Pellegrini RDH, MS, PhD - Associate Professor. I was amazed at her quick response. She answered me within an hour! Amazing with her schedule as you will see from what she shared below.

Before I get to the questions, I just wanted to clarify my academicresponsibilities. In addition to instruction of dental hygiene students,I direct courses and mentor freshmen & sophomore dental students in DentalLiterature Review. It is a departure from the dental hygiene curriculum,but it is now getting future dentists to think like dental hygienists!
On to your queries:
1. My academic description encompasses course direction for preclinictheory (DENH 301), clinical dental hygiene I (DENH 327), preventive oralhealth education (DENH 312), and dental hygiene theory IV--practicemanagement (DENH 402). I provide clinical instruction in the dental hygiene clinic, with a sophomore dental student recall clinic, and see private patients in the School of Dentistry Faculty Practice.What you may be most interested in for your course/interview, is that I provide management for the DH clinic. In that responsibility, I am solely in charge of ordering supplies for clinic use. Many items are provided through the instrument management system in the dental school, but preventive supplies, maintenance items and repair work orders come under my purview. Our clinic appointment clerk assists me in reporting equipment repair needs and facilities management issues. As designated junior clinic coordinator, I arrange for in-school rotation assignments and clinical assignments and monitor clinic progress for each junior student.
2. Clinical protocols have been set by previous coordinators. They are updated, and are discussed by those faculty involved in directing clinical courses--with input from other full-time faculty, part-time faculty and students. The ultimate decisions rest with the designated clinic coordinators. Right now, we are grooming a junior full-time faculty member to take over my roles in clinic management as my teaching responsibilities on the dental side of the house increase.
3. Clinic protocols are communicated through the clinical courses, and are contained in a clinic notebook available on the clinic floor.Individual items regarding specific responsibilities and protocols are provided on our course BlackBoard sites (.pdf format), discussed in class,(if technique oriented) demonstrated in class/clinic. We are building an electronic clinic manual (specific to DH, apart from the School ofDentistry Clinic Manual), but have not finalized the eVersion. It has been our summer project for several years, but has not yet been finalized. Summers are used for planning by full-time faculty. But classes commence around the last week of July for the fall semester, so just as we get our syllabi and course materials together, its time to welcome students.
4. Faculty calibration might be a bit easier at our school, since the majority of our faculty are graduates of this program. Each semester,clinical course directors mentor hands-on instrumentation and technique sessions to get all clinical faculty "on the same page." Assessment rubrics with qualified/quantified evaluation descriptors are updated (as needed) and provided in hard/electronic copy to the clinical faculty."Huddles" before clinic occur frequently, especially during the preclinical instruction, so that all faculty are together on their teaching role for that session.
5. Clinic course directors track student progress and clinic assessment.In our school, we have a customized WinDent program to track patient demographics, appointment scheduling, recall, to use for patient chart (SOAP) notes. Student progress is recorded by treatment provided, and coded competency requirements for each student. Faculty (with administrative rights to the system) can pull up student reports to view progress through the semester.We also have a system of "Clinic reports and commendations" designed to provide feedback to students--and get their response--before the end ofthat particular clinic session. The form records aspects of patient care that the DH student must master. Incident reports can be generated for behaviors that are below the expected standard; but commendations can begiven for outstanding behavior/patient care on the same form. We have recently instituted a "Process of Care" checklist to use to mentor each student. With a faculty member sitting in the cubicle observing as tudent, they can assess all aspects of care provided, giving intense feedback to the observed student. These assessments are not punitive, but are intended to provide critique of student performance. Student self-evaluation is being brought into clinical assessment more this year.The faculty are asking students to do self-assessment in a more formal manner, intending to provide a model for continuous quality improvement after graduation. Forms and methods have been implemented this year from information received from faculty in other schools across the country. GodBless Networking!

I feel like a novice trying to just understand clinic management and responsibilities of coordinators/directors to respond well to her comments. I was a little surprised that calibration is not an issue because majority of faculty are graduates of the same institution. I also found it interesting that faculty needs to track supplies and repair issues. Does that occur at the U of M?