Accreditation of dentists: the procedure

The primary accreditation of dentists has recently become an obligatory procedure. It is designed to confirm that a person who claims to be proficient in dental skills and has crusts about profile education, and can really work in the chosen direction. Accreditation is necessary for all specialists who have the education of a pharmacist, a physician or other related to medicine. However, the accreditation commission met dentists earlier than many of their colleagues from other fields of medicine.

How does it work?

To get accreditation, the dentist will have to appear before the profile commission. This procedure must be completed immediately after graduation. However, if the profession "dentist" was confirmed by a new specialist, and the commission decided that its level of qualification is sufficient, this does not mean that the epic ends. According to the current rules and regulations, it is necessary to repeat the procedure on a regular basis. The profession of "dentist" must be confirmed every five years anew. This means that with a five-year periodicity will have to appear before the commission and prove compliance with the post.

Many people who have received dental education for a long time and have not worked on it since then, may be surprised by this rule. And it is true, it was introduced only in 2016 by the order adopted under number 127n. Previously, there were no such requirements, although there was a similar certification system. Admittedly, the introduction of a new legal standard caused a storm of discontent, and even panic among doctors, for whom the updated law seemed at first glance misunderstood.

How, where, to whom?

Of course, it is important for any dentist to know how accreditation passes, who needs to pass it, and who is saved from interaction with the commission. It follows from the order that those who received higher education in the field of medicine, dentistry, as well as the average level of education in the field of people's treatment, will be accredited. In addition, an accreditation commission is also due to all those who hold other categories of education from among those requiring primary accreditation. The educational standards that are adopted in our country tell us what categories they are.

If a person has passed a program for the training of highly qualified personnel or has studied under the supplementary education program, which usually appears in official papers as "professional retraining", then one will also have to appear before the commission. The qualification of dentists should be confirmed by the commission and in case the doctors studied abroad.

How did it all start?

From the very beginning, the situational tasks of accreditation of dentists were not formulated clearly enough so that non-professionals of this field could orient themselves. But it was already clear from the very first moments that the new order will have the greatest impact on the beginning of the career of dentists, pharmacists. It was with them that the introduction of new approaches to the evaluation of the level of qualifications began. However, many will agree that accreditation of a specialist in medicine in our country has long been a painful issue. People do not trust doctors, and this measure will restore faith in highly qualified care. At least, this was the calculation when the law was passed.

At the same time it should be noted that the accreditation of a specialist did not become something fundamentally new. Previously, doctors should have been certified, which was formally replaced by a new commission.

What do specialists say?

At first, many doubted that it was correct to hold accreditation other than dentists to other specialists, including pharmacists. As analysts noted, pharmacists are also employees of the health care system in our country, so it is logical to extend similar principles to them. However, there have been predictions that this will scare people away from real work and soon the country will face a lack of personnel in this area. However, until the final statistics on the issue has been collected yet.

Another problem that concerns directly accreditation of dentists is the issue of selecting commission members. And to this day there are no precise and clear indications as to the professional standards, and the methods of checking compliance with them. Initially, it was announced that experts for the commission would be trained specifically, but in fact the effectiveness of this program is still under big question.

What does this mean?

Under the new law, the accreditation of dentists is mandatory, as a result of which doctors receive a special certificate. Without evidence today it is impossible to work. However, let the dentists and were the first birds, in 2017 the practice spread to other branches of medicine.

Accreditation of dentists is carried out in three stages:

1. Test.
2. Assessment of skills when using equipment.
3. Modeling of the clinical task.

Already in 2016, before the actual practice of accreditation, potential doctors could get acquainted with what awaits them. On the websites of the Ministry of Health, the methodological center responsible for confirming the level of specialists, several thousand trial tests were published, based on which in the future it was supposed to evaluate the work of dentists. Of course, no one offered such a volume on the exams, but sets of questions were selected from these preliminary bases, which make it possible to draw up individual assignments. By the way, virtual resources allow you to create such a selection for yourself, test your strength, and learn your points beyond the stressful situation. In the classical version, the duration of preparation is one and a half hours, for which you need to solve 60 questions. There are four answers to the questions.

All at once?

For many, the approach of the state to the selection of those who are to be accredited, and those to whom it does not threaten, seemed interesting. It was decided that at the same time the entire country should not be transferred to new mechanisms. So, until 2021, those who are already working will be given certificates valid until 2026.

What's new?

It would seem that little has changed, and it affected mostly graduates. Is it so? In 2016 it was decided to introduce a new mechanism of education in the field of medicine - they made an attempt to introduce, the so-called continuous. This means that dentists and nurses must pereprohodit upgrading skills not every five years, but regularly learn new things.

And what does this mean?

Experts positively evaluated this innovation, because the previous method was hopelessly out of date for a long time. According to the old standards, doctors could count only on slow renovation of buildings, because of which the system of rendering assistance on the ground hopelessly lagged behind the real world practices and trends - nobody knew about them.

Science is actively developing, new methods, approaches, medicines are emerging, and familiar and familiar to all drugs are a thing of the past due to detectable side effects. Of course, if information about such updates in medicine comes to the doctor only once in five years, there can be no question of any correspondence to the expectations of clients. And what to hide, most of the advanced training courses for dentists are just a repetition of what has already been studied in the sixth year of the university, without any attention to the real situation in the world of medicine.

Additional education and accreditation

It is assumed that the updated system will make the system of dentists receive additional education more effective. If earlier it was possible to count on 144 hours of classes with an interval of five years between two "lots" of knowledge, now you can get 250 hours distributed in a five-year interval evenly. By the way, according to the old regulations, these 144 hours were crammed in only 4 weeks. Of course, this affected the assimilation of knowledge, not to mention the fact that the relevance was far from always in line with expectations.

Order of the Ministry of Health obliges dentists to receive 50 points or hours related to the activity in the sphere of raising the level of knowledge and skills during the year. At the same time, it is possible to get all the points at once, but not necessarily. For example, you can regularly take short-term training programs - say, 18 hours. In addition, you can attend conferences and take distance learning programs. All this allows you to accumulate points and hours, which in the future will help get accreditation when the time is right.

Accreditation and points: one without the other is impossible?

Implementation and accreditation, and a system of additional skills upgrading is done gradually, in steps. So, the first to hit were those who were to receive the first accreditation in life, who received the last certificate. In 2017 the next batch started. According to preliminary estimates of specialists, annually up to 250 000 specialists will be involved in the new methodology. This means that to this day there are those who are yet to be accredited. However, officials promise that sooner or later all will be covered without exception.

Do not slip away. And is it necessary?

If a doctor who was to enter a new stage of accreditation has avoided passing a commission, he will not be able to work. But not everyone can pass the accreditation, but only one who already has a profile on the portal of continuing education of the NMA.

The situation is as follows: if a person received a certificate before 2016 and now works as a dentist, but he has to update in 2017, 2018, this means that you need to join the NMA, where you accumulate points. That is, in 2017 the doctor will still receive a certificate on the old form, but from this moment the countdown will begin - you need to accumulate in your profile at least 250 points in five years. If this succeeds, we can assume that accreditation will be passed next time, which means that the dentist will retain the right to work in this area.

And if not?

Undoubtedly, there are people who do not have five years to get the right amount of points. This is always the case, no matter what kind of education system is introduced. However, experts promise that an extra way out of the situation will be developed specifically for this group of people. It is assumed that a good effect will be provided by the introduction of intensive courses that allow you to collect the missing points. Alternatively, the doctor will be given extra time to solve the problem.

Looking back on the West

The system was introduced not from scratch, the ministry analyzed the experience of successful developed countries, where the similar logic of getting education and passing accreditation by dentists already operates. In most of these countries, the opportunity to take extra time, and various courses are also introduced. It is enough simply to copy the system, correcting it for the realities of our country. Experts promise that the system of continuing education in the field of medicine will be regularly improved. By the way, the standards by the hour are already taken exactly the same as those for European doctors.

There are always drawbacks

Of course, no matter how promisingly implemented accreditation of dentists looked, this system has pitfalls. So, the novelty is very different from the practiced methods of teaching in higher educational institutions of the country, it is unusual for doctors, professors, and officials. This ensures that at first there will be a lot of discontent and misunderstanding. In fact, work is underway to help optimize the transition from university education to additional education during a career.

Short courses are also being developed that will allow employers in the future of dentists to leave for training for several days a year each year. This will help not to lose the employee immediately for a long time, and the doctor will give an opportunity to score the required number of points.