Dental hygiene is crucial for people’s health, and self-assessment is an essential part of hygiene. It is worth mentioning in the curriculum because hygienists must have these skills for self-improvement and personal growth in the profession. The value of that practice will help to monitor both their health and their performance at work. Self-assessment skills meet ADEA Competencies and ADHA Standards as they both require professional growth and development. Thus, they aim at reviewing the already acquired knowledge. This practice is excellent for enhancing critical thinking, which is the clinical course’s priority because it is vital to maintain professional interaction with patients, and assessment of decision-making process.
As for ADEA competencies that self-assessment meets, we can mention the following topics: health promotion and disease prevention. If hygienists monitor their dental health, they can understand the factors that help the patients to maintain hygiene and prevent various diseases. Moreover, this practice for self-management and critical thinking is high-priority in terms of recording data and analyzing risks. ADHA Standards also have some core values that correspond with self-assessment. For instance, planning standards require the establishments of goals for a patient to maintain their dental hygiene. Furthermore, self-assessment helps to monitor the results of patients and changing the strategies if necessary.
I believe that self-assessment should be both in the clinical and the didactic courses because this is a skill that needs to be learned and studied in theory and practice. Particularly, making a questionnaire for other hygienists is one of the tools that can point out the gaps in knowledge; thus, it promotes to review challenging topics. The techniques and basics of critical thinking urge them to gain knowledge in a particular sphere and promote better work performance. Eventually, this practice is an excellent example of personal growth and a key element in the decision-making process.