Spear Education: Trade the Lecture for Oral Health Coaching
Here at Hygiene Edge, we are collaborating with Spear Education for our continuing education. You can see from my screenshot below that I was watching Trish O'Hare's lecture called, "Trade the Lecture for Oral Health Coaching."
I loved the tips she gave on how to get patients to better their oral hygiene by changing your interviewing techniques. I certainly have some work to do on asking open-ended question.
I also appreciated her words about being a coach, who wants the patient to win at their home care, versus a lecturer who can easily over-educate.
She said that we as dental professionals are oral health coaches. Which is a new label that I could get used to!
Spear Education is very interactive, as you can assign lessons to other staff members and join discussion about the topic with other dental professionals. You can take quizzes at the end of the courses that will count towards your CE's.
Spear Education Giveaway
A few months ago, I was out for a walk and ran into my neighbor down the street. She is the mom to two little ones. She expressed to me she was tired, which makes sense! However, she mentioned that her little boy, who is 2, was a horrible sleeper. He woke up in the night crying, moved around in his crib all night, was irritable during the day and wouldn't nap. Being a new mom myself, I didn't have any advice for her which I felt horrible about. She had been to her peditrition and they had no solution as well. I casually mentioned if he'd been the dentist yet because hey, you never know.
Fast forward to a few days ago. This friend gave me a call to tell me all about her son and the updates with his sleeping. Turns out seeing the dentist was just what he needed. She scheduled an appointment with a local dentist, and on examination, he saw large tonsils and a blocked airway. A referral to an ENT occurred, surgery happened to remove his adenoids and tonsils, and his sleeping has vastly improved. I was in shock and so impressed that they checked his airway and found the root of his sleeping problem. I unfortunately didn't know much about airway problems in children and felt horrible! As a hygienist I should've known and been able to give more advice to help with my friend's child inability to sleep.
Lucky for me, Spear Education reached out to us at Hygiene Edge and asked us to try out their education system this month. They offer live events, on demand CE courses, and a community of dental professionals to talk and collaborate on cases. They have an amazing course on pediatric airway, how to screen patients, what questions to ask parents, and what do to next if you suspect airway issues which I learned so much. I'm excited to talk to my office about adding screenings for airway issues to our regular hygiene visits and helping people like my dear friend!
Want to try out Spear Education for yourself, and up to 10 others in your practice, for 6 months? Enter to win by commenting below on what your favorite CE topics to learn about are.
Contest Details: Winner, and up to 10 others in your office, will receive 6 months of the Spear Education online access. Winner will be announced on the blog our social media outlets by January 26, 2018. Winner will have 30 days to claim the prize.