Action Alert for Dental Hygienists:
What You Can Do To Help Fight Preceptorship

• Display your credentials--Hang a copy of your diploma or degree on the wall or list your credentials on a name badge.
  
  
• Educate your patients--Make sure they understand the importance of knowing the educational background of the health care workers who provide care to them. Explain what constitutes a complete oral health care visit.
  
  
• If you are not an ADHA member, become one and join your affiliated state and local associations. If you are not already a member of ADHA, call 1-800-243-ADHA (2342) for an application or download it at <http://www.adha.org/aboutadha/apply.htm>; for the cost of approximately one day’s pay, you can combine your resources with your colleagues across the country and protect your profession.
  
  
• Recruit other dental hygienists to join ADHA--There is strength in numbers. The more dental hygienists we can claim as members the stronger our position will be as the representatives of the dental hygiene profession.
  
  
• If you are an ADHA member, work with your constituent legislative chair and state education network liaison
  
  
• Establish relationships with your legislators now before a crisis arises in your state. Explain the importance of protecting consumers by preserving graduation from an accredited dental hygiene program as the only acceptable preparation for patient care. For example, one strategy your constituent may try is donating time to selected political campaigns.
  
  
• Help spread the word to others--Meeting the preceptorship challenge will require a well-informed profession and a empathetic public. Tell your co-workers, your colleagues, your patients—everyone you know—about the substandard care they may receive if on-the-job training programs are made legal in your state.
  
  
• Keep your ears open--On-the-job proposals are often disguised as concern over a “manpower crisis” or as calls for alternative educational programs. If you see or hear anything about a move to weaken or reduce the accredited programs currently preparing dental hygienists for practice, share the information with your state dental hygienist association and share it with us. Call us on our toll-free line 1-800-243-ADHA (2342) and select #3 on the menu options.