Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024
The goal of continuing competency is to encourage the
lifetime professional development of the licensed denturist, and to enhance the
clinical and overall skills needed to protect the health and safety of all
patients.
(1) A licensed denturist
shall:
(a) Complete and attest to the
completion of a minimum of fifteen clock hours of continuing competency every
year as a part of their annual license renewal requirement; and
(b) Comply with the requirements of chapter
246-12 WAC, Part 7.
(2)
The board:
(a) May randomly audit up to
twenty-five percent of licensed denturists annually for compliance.
(b) Does not authorize or approve specific
continuing competency courses.
(3) Continuing competency must contribute to
the professional knowledge and development of the licensed dentur-ist or
enhance services provided to patients.
(4) A denturist shall complete continuing
competency in one or more of the following categories:
(a) Education courses relating to the
practice of dentur-ism;
(b)
Emergency management or advanced cardiac life support (ACLS);
(c) Health care provider basic life support
(BLS);
(d) Infection control and
federal and state safety standards;
(e) Ethics;
(f) Patient care education including risk
management, methods of health delivery, multicultural, and suicide prevention
education;
(g) Patient
communication;
(h) Implantology
(restoring implants);
(i) Partial
denture construction and design;
(j) Washington state denturist jurisprudence
exam, for a maximum of two hours every three years;
(k) Practice management and billing
practices, for a maximum of five hours yearly.
(5) A denturist shall use the following
activities to complete continuing competency hours:
(a) Attendance at a local, state, national,
or international continuing competency courses, live interactive webinar and
denturist study clubs, for a maximum of eight hours yearly;
(b) Self-study by various means, relevant to
denturism, without an instructor present:
(i)
Self-study can be continuing education provided online or through the mail
provided by a continuing competency provider, up to a maximum of five hours
yearly;
(ii) Self-study can be
reading a book that contributes to the professional knowledge and development
of the licensed denturist, or enhance services provided to patients. A two-page
synopsis of what was learned written by the licensed denturist is required to
be granted two hours of continuing competency for each book and synopsis, up to
a maximum of four hours yearly.
(c) Teaching, presenting, or lecturing in a
course, only if the presentation or lecture is created or authored by the
den-turist claiming the continuing competency hours, up to a maximum of five
hours yearly;
(d) Direct clinical
supervision of denturist students up to a maximum of five hours
yearly;
(e) Denturist licensure
examinations, examination standardization and calibration workshops, clinical
examination administration, or serving on a denturist professional board or
association up to a maximum of ten hours yearly;
(f) Publishing a paper in a peer review
journal up to a maximum of five hours yearly the year the paper is published;
and
(g) Provision of clinical
denturist patient care services in a documented volunteer capacity, up to a
maximum of five hours yearly.
(6) The board may not accept any claim of
credit for a continuing competency course that does not meet the requirements
of subsection (4) or (5) of this section.
(7) Proof of continuing competency is a
certificate of completion, letter, transcripts, or other documentation
verifying or confirming attendance or completion of continuing competency
hours. Documentation must be from the organization that provided the activity,
except in subsection (5)(b) (ii) of this section, and must contain at least the
following:
(a) Date of attendance or
completion;
(b) Name of licensed
denturist;
(c) Hours earned;
and
(d) Course title or
subject.
(8) Upon showing
good cause by the denturist in writing, the board may waive the denturist from
any, all, or part of the continuing competency requirements in this chapter or
may grant additional time for the denturist to complete the requirements. Good
cause includes, but is not limited to:
(a)
Illness;
(b) Medical necessity or
family emergency;
(c) Hardship to
practice; or
(d) Other extenuating
circumstances.
