Dental Hygiene Examining Committee

Description

The mandate of the Dental Hygiene Examining Committee is to protect the public's health and safety and to promote the welfare of the state by regulating the competency and quality of professional healthcare providers under its jurisdiction. The committee accomplishes this through a variety of activities working with the Department of Health, Health Systems Quality Assurance division.

Committee duties include:

• Establishing qualifications for minimal competency to grant or deny licensure of dental hygienists.
• Prescribing, preparing and conducting examinations for dental hygiene licensure and establishing standards for passage of the examinations.
• Determine which states have educational and licensing requirements equivalent to those of this state.
• Establish by rule the standards and procedures for approving expanded function education courses and may contract with individuals or organizations having expertise in the profession or in education to assist in evaluation of these courses.

Qualifications

The committee is made up of three dental hygienists and one public member appointed by the secretary. The dental hygiene members shall be licensed and have been actively practicing dental hygiene for a period of not less than five years immediately before appointment and shall not be connected with any dental hygiene school. All members must be U.S. citizens and must be Washington residents.

Public member representatives shall not:

• Be connected with any dental hygiene program; or
• Be engaged in any practice or business related to dental hygiene.

Committee participation expectation guidelines

The following expectation guidelines are intended to serve as a reference for current members and for prospective appointees of the committee:

• Attend regular board meetings, scheduled for one day on Friday every three months. There is also a Department of Health one-day Board, Commission, or Committee conference.
• Prepare for all meetings by reading materials sent one to two weeks in advance of the scheduled meeting date. The packets take an average of two to four hours to read before each business meeting.
• Assist newly appointed committee members as necessary.
• Hygiene members will be expected to examiners for the regional examining boards.

Total annual time commitment

Meetings/Conferences to include regional examinations – Six to seven days per year plus examination days
Meeting preparation – Two to four hours per meeting (about one day per year)

Performance guidelines for newly appointed committee members

Attend an initial orientation about the committee presented by Department of Health staff. This is about half a day in length. Initial orientation outlines the legal authority of the committee, the roles and responsibilities of committee members, ethics, confidentiality, the legal liability of committee members and the Department of Health, the organizational structure of the department, roles and responsibilities of department staff, roles and responsibilities of staff attorneys and Assistant Attorneys General (AAGs), rule making and other issues.

Become a Board, Commission, or Committee Member

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Name and term expiration date of members

Meeting information

(subject to change)

2024

• October 25 (PDF)
• July 19 (PDF)
• April 12 (PDF)

2023

• October 13 (PDF)
• July 14 (PDF)
• February 24 (PDF)