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BCCOHP’s Quality Assurance (QA) Program helps ensure the public is well-served by competent oral healthcare professionals.
To ensure continuing competence, certified dental assistants (CDAs) are required to complete a minimum number of continuing education credits and other profession-specific requirements as part of their QA Program cycles.
Note: BCCOHP’s QA program will be enhanced in order to promote career-long hands-on learning, encourage collaboration among oral health professionals and improve treatment outcomes for patients. Harmonization of the quality assurance program and other individual requirements will be a priority after September 1, 2022.
Current QA Program
BCCOHP’s QA program has two main components:
Your QAP cycle is assigned at the date of certification and runs on a three-year calendar cycle. These cycles remain constant despite the certification classification a CDA holds (i.e., practising, non-practising, former). Please contact us for further information specific to your cycle if you plan to move between certification classifications.
Below is a summary of QA requirements for CDAs. General information about continuing education and continuous practice can be found in the sidebar.
Following are descriptions of the categories under which CDAs may earn CE credits and the maximum number of credits allowed in each category over a three-year cycle.
Category/ Modality | Description | Max Credits Per Cycle |
CDAs | ||
Clinical Dental | Relates directly to the provision of patient care and treatment | No limit |
Dental Practice Management | Relates directly to the operation and management of a dental practice (does not include courses related to personal financial or retirement planning, or marketing products or services to patients) | 18 |
Dental/ | First aid, CPR, ACLS, and management of dental/medical emergencies | 12 |
Non-Clinical Dental | Topics that are applicable to the registrant’s practice of dentistry | 12 |
Other Dental | E.g. CDA modules, lecturers/ presenters/mentors/supervisors, university/college courses, examinations, publication authorship, and learning contract/directed study | Variable See pages 6-7 of Continuing Education Requirements (PDF) document |
Note: There are credit limits associated with the various CE learning categories and modalities (e.g. live lecture versus self-study). For more information, read the Continuing Education Requirements (PDF) document.
CDAs are encouraged to review the eligibility criteria for continuing education credits, which is available here.
CDAs are required to maintain a minimum number of hours of mandatory continuing education (CE) in order to renew certification to practise each year.
Your QAP cycle is assigned at the date of registration and runs on a three-year calendar cycle, e.g. January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2022.
Minimum required credits during a three-year QAP cycle: 36 credits (one hour = 1 credit)
Detailed requirements, including course eligibility, are outlined in the Continuing Education Requirements (PDF) document.
CDAs must achieve at least 600 practice hours within their QAP cycle in order to renew their full certification.
Acceptable continuous practice hours include the provision of clinical dental treatment, employment as a dental educator or dental researcher, or enrollment in a dental education program.
In order to fulfill this requirement, a CDA must perform the restricted activities that a CDA may perform under the BCCOHP Bylaws. If you work in both an administrative and clinical capacity, you should keep track of your clinical hours for your records. Dental reception hours are not eligible for your continuous practice requirement.
To meet the continuous practice requirement, CDAs must work approximately 17 hours per month (within their QAP cycle).