A message from BCCOHP’s Registrar and CEO, Chris Hacker
This newsletter provides an update on BCCOHP’s progress on our goal of modernizing oral health care oversight.
The three-year strategic plan that rolled out this past April lays out specific areas of focus. Within this newsletter below, you’ll find detailed information about initiatives we’re pursuing to meet our strategic goals.
Over the coming months, we’ll continue working to identify and leverage opportunities within regulatory modernization, while prioritizing outcomes for patients and the public and supporting oral health professionals in the provision of safe oral health care.
We are committed to understanding and addressing the diverse experiences of patients and the public and oral health professionals within the healthcare system. This is crucial in our efforts to prevent harm, eliminate discrimination, and ensure fairness in oral health care for everyone. Above all, and as always, our primary focus remains patient safety.
Thank you for your engagement as we work together to enhance patient safety in BC.
Warmly,
Chris Hacker
Developing patient-centred standards for oral health professionals
Establishing cohesive, patient-centred standards for all oral health professionals is a key priority for BCCOHP.
Since we formed in 2022, we’ve been working to unify pre-existing standards from our four legacy colleges into a cohesive, modern framework that is patient-centred. This is a large, ongoing initiative, and you will be kept updated as we progress.
Recent efforts:
- Engagement with the BC Public Advisory Network (BC-PAN): In May 2024, we held a focus group with BC-PAN advisors which will inform core parts of BCCOHP’s new standards for oral health professionals.
- Discussion board: In mid-August, we held a discussion board session with members of the Oral Health Professionals Advisory Panel focused on the provision of safe, equitable oral health care.
- Early survey on existing sedation and general anesthesia (GA) standards: In July 2024, we invited all oral health professionals in BC and members of their sedation/GA teams to complete an early survey on existing sedation and GA standards. Results are currently being reviewed and will inform development of new sedation/GA standards.
More opportunities to engage with us in this area will become available in the coming months. You can follow our progress and learn more about the standards development process by visiting our Standards and Guidance Development webpage.
Modernizing BCCOHP’s quality assurance program
Ensuring that oral health professionals maintain competence throughout their careers is one of the three main ways BCCOHP protects the public. Our Quality Assurance (QA) program is an important part of this work.
We are in the midst of a large, multi-year project aiming to create a modernized quality assurance program for all oral health professionals in BC.
For more information on this project, please visit Quality Assurance Program Modernization and read below for some of the work we are doing in this area.
Recent efforts:
- Guiding principles: These principles will guide the development and ongoing administration of the new program.
- Baseline research: We incorporated questions about quality assurance in both the 2023 and 2024 Oral Health Professional and Voice of the Dental Patient in BC surveys.
- Research report: A research report on quality assurance assessments used in professional regulation is in progress. This will provide evidence-based recommendations tailored to BCCOHP’s context. Further information will be shared on this as it becomes available.
- Consultation: We are developing meaningful engagement opportunities throughout the program development process. More information will be shared as it becomes available.
Enhancing cultural safety and humility in oral health care
At BCCOHP, our commitment to protecting the public from harm and discrimination in BC’s oral health sector is central to our 2024-27 Strategic Plan.
A significant focus of this plan is on upholding Indigenous rights and promoting reconciliation in oral health care. We recognize the need to enhance cultural safety and humility and are actively working to:
- Embed cultural safety and humility and Indigenous specific anti-racism in all aspects of governance and operations and eliminate barriers to Indigenous people accessing BCCOHP.
- Set expectations for oral health professionals that support the delivery of culturally safe and humble oral health care.
- Ensure shared decision-making with Indigenous peoples, including recruiting and retaining Indigenous board, committee and staff members.
Part of this ongoing work includes:
- Recruiting a Director, Cultural Safety and Humility, to build relationships with Indigenous communities and guide our initiatives.
- Establishing an Indigenous advisory circle to provide advice and direction.
- Launching an Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility webpage with resources and education for oral health professionals and the public.
To learn more about our efforts in this area, visit our Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility webpage.
Online portal and public register updates
As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize our regulatory functions, we’ve been focused on unifying the four legacy online portals and public registers that ported over from the colleges that came together to form BCCOHP. Currently, these systems remain separate, but the first wave of changes are coming soon.
What you need to know
In Fall 2024, certified dental assistants, dental technicians, dental therapists, dentists and denturists will transition to a new online portal—effectively reducing the number of systems from four to two. This move will streamline processes and make it easier for oral health professionals to navigate our portals, and for the public to access information about oral health professionals via the public register.
If you are a certified dental assistant, dental technician, dental therapist, dentist or denturist registered with BCCOHP, please be aware that your portal will have a new look and feel, and the public register used to find you will also be updated. Watch your email for more details as the launch approaches.