Northwestern College is hosting a Healthcare Career Fair on Thursday, May 24. Learn more here!
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In the 20-plus years Gladys Nieves has worked as a dental assistant, she has witnessed the evolution of the dental industry. She has seen it go from the “dinosaur” era of paper records and unsterilized equipment to the digital record keeping and stiff regulations of today’s world. Nieves, an assistant professor and dental assistant instructor at Northwestern College, has done it all – which is a real bonus for her students.
How she went from dental assistant to assistant professor
“I have so much under my belt,” Nieves says. “I’ve worked with pediatric dentists. I’ve worked with the best surgeon. I worked in a hospital setting.” After teaching at another college for five years, it closed. She returned to the field and managed a dental office for two years. “It was important for me to go back and see all the digital stuff and how it’s working now,” she says. “It just refreshed everything for me and took me to a better level.” She trained new assistants at her office – something she said prepared her for teaching once again. When an opportunity to teach at Northwestern came up, she jumped on it. “When I went in for my interview and I started telling them what I know and the people I know, they said, ‘You know what? Let’s get you a classroom.’ I never thought that would happen.”
How the dental field has changed
The biggest noticeable industry change has been with regulations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed to ensure the privacy and security of patients’ healthcare information. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards have improved. “Back in the day, they [dental assistants] were so afraid to sterilize their doctor’s drills because they thought they would break off and need to be replaced,” Nieves says. “Having such standards … having it nice and sterile for the patient makes everybody safe and the environment safe.” Other changes include the way they take X-rays and radiation dosage. “It just gets better and better – the X-rays, the pictures,” she says.
What she teaches her students
At Northwestern College, dental assistant students learn what they need to work in any type of dental office. “We
teach them here how to chart in a computer setting and also in an old-school paper setting,” she says, “if they get a dentist who still loves his paper charts.” They learn different types of cavities, teeth names and numbers, surfaces, and how to take specific X-rays (depending on whether the patient is in the office because of a dental emergency or routine exam). She says students also learn how to be professional and answer the phones correctly. Nieves has them practice sending emails to cancel or fill appointments. “If the email doesn’t make sense, I correct them so it looks more professional,” Nieves says. “It’s really important for dental assistants to know that.”
How doing an externship helps students
Besides regular classroom study, dental assistant students are required to complete a 120-hour externship in a real dental office. In school, students work on each other as practice. The externship is different. “They need that hands-on experience to see how a real patient reacts with X-rays or a mold in the mouth, so they learn that they have to be gentle about it,” she explains. “Their friends are going to be a little more lenient on them, but the patients are going to be afraid.” Although students are not paid by the host dentist, they are qualifying for graduation. “We let them know – you have to shine in your externship; you have to treat this like it’s your job,” she says. “It’s their incentive to hurry up and finish those hours because they can graduate and get hired. It’s a win-win situation.”
What makes Northwestern College special
“Northwestern College has a beautiful state-of-the-art facility, and a lot of these new doctors – they’re getting that,” Nieves says. “They’re going top-notch with their stuff because they want to impress the patients who come in and are competitive with other new doctors.” Students at Northwestern work in that type of environment, but the comprehensive program prepares them to be able to work in any dental facility. “We touch upon every dental aspect, and then their last term we touch on every specialty there is.” Additionally, Nieves says the students develop strong camaraderie with their classmates. “They help each other out. It’s very important for them to look out for each other as dental assistants. Why don’t you come here? It’s really nice.” Nieves says that in many cases, students end up working for the dentist they externed for. “They train them the way they want them, so they wind up keeping them,” she says. “That’s a foot in the door for the student.”
What the prospects look like for dental assistants
Nieves says dental assistants are more in demand than are dental hygienists because of their varied responsibilities. A dental hygienist cleans teeth and can administer anesthesia. “If they can hire a doctor to clean teeth and do everything, they’ll hire a doctor,” she says. “There’s less chance of employment for dental hygienists.” On the other hand, dental assistants do the bulk of the work. They set up the instruments a doctor needs for any given procedure, take molds for custom impressions of teeth and for creating special appliances, take X-rays and set up bleaching trays. “They need to know the instruments, the functions, the setups,” she explains. “If a doctor’s doing a filling, they need to know what type of filling and what instruments they need for it.” Nieves says that in a typical dentist’s office, they might need three or four dental assistants. In large offices, that number could go up to 15. “I used to work at the hospital, and I’d see 15, 20 assistants and there would be one to two dental hygienists.”
What she likes best about teaching
“I love it when students succeed. They love this program,” she says. As students “get” the program, they begin talking a dental language, Nieves says, is built in the dental community. “We talk about a specific tooth that has a decay on it, and it’s a big deal. Oh, tooth number three has an occlusal decay. Only we know what that means.” She says she loves when they catch on. “That’s what I love about it – when I see them speaking to me the way I know, my language of dental talk. Welcome to my world!”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for dental assistants is expected to grow by 19 percent from 2016 to 2026 – much faster than the average for other occupations. If you think your future career could be as a dental assistant, contact Northwestern College today.
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Christopher Wheat had originally planned on becoming a physician when he entered the University of Chicago as an undergraduate. Fortunately for Northwestern College, he changed his plans. The multi-degreed, multi-awarded Wheat is now Program Director of the college’s new Health Information Management program. How he went from there to here is a fascinating story.
When life pulls you in an unexpected direction
Wheat received his bachelor’s in biological sciences with a specialization in neuroscience from U of C. “At one point, I considered becoming a psychiatrist,” Wheat reflects. “Life, of course, pulled me in a different direction, and in my last year of college I was performing research at the U of C children’s hospital, Wyler’s [now known as Comer Children’s], working in the developmental neurobiology laboratory.” He liked research, so decided to stick with it for another year after graduation. He transferred to UIC’s (University of Illinois at Chicago) Department of Physiology and Biophysics, where he performed research on genetic knockout mice, studying different myosin isoform physiological traits. His contract expired about the time of the shaky political climate in 2004-2006, when many of the sciences were defunded.
How making a necessary change affected plans
“The positions that I normally had and was qualified for with a bachelor’s from the University of Chicago were no longer within my reach,” he says. Research positions seemed to be open only to those who had PhDs. Wheat thought he might need to shift his career goals. “At that point, I wasn’t really interested in medicine per se, but I still loved science,” he says. While searching the Internet for jobs and career alternatives, he saw something intriguing, yet unfamiliar to him: health information technology (HIT). As he learned more about HIT, he followed the path to Northwestern College in 2008.
When starting from scratch is a good thing
Although Wheat was armed with a degree from a prestigious university, he knew it wasn’t enough. “I wanted a firm foundation, a firm footing in a profession instead of just getting a post-graduate certificate,” he says. He signed up for Northwestern College’s associate’s program in HIT. He completed the program, received his RHIT (Registered Health Information Technician) certification and began looking for work. Wheat’s predecessor at NC received a copy of his exam results and was so impressed that he asked him to start teaching new graduates the exam review class. He worked part-time for six months as an adjunct faculty member. “After getting rave reviews,” he says, “I was extended an offer of full-time faculty, full-time instructor.” He decided that if he planned to teach, he should continue his own education.
How adding more credentials improves chances
In the fall of 2014, Wheat began a master’s program in HIM (Health Information Management) at the College of St. Scholastica. During the next two years, he certified in CCS-P (Certified Coding Specialist – Physician-based), CCS (Certified Coding Specialist) and RHIA (Registered Health Information Administrator). “I officially elevated my RHIT certificate, which is the two-year certification to the four-year administrator.” Wheat completed his first master’s last August in Health Information Management, but that wasn’t enough for him. He started a second master’s in Health Informatics that he will complete in August of this year.
When closing one door opens others
As luck would have it, in 2015 Wheat’s predecessor at Northwestern College decided he wanted to get back into the field, and he tendered his resignation. Wheat assumed the role of program director and department chair at that time. In addition management of the certificate and degree programs, he continues to teach and this quarter is teaching Coding I and the 120-hour practical course for associate’s-degree students; which is the culmination of their two-year academic career. Aside from his Northwestern College commitment, Wheat is active in area professional associations, including CAHIMA (Chicago Area Health Information Management Association) and ILHIMA (Illinois Health Information Management Association). “In 2015, I was awarded the Outstanding New Professional Award by ILHIMA and decided to run for a board seat.,” he says. “I’m currently serving my second year as Director of Education on the board of ILHIMA. I’m finishing up the term this year, and am currently running for President of ILHIMA.”
What he sees as his personal goals
Wheat wants to make the Northwestern College HIM program the premier HIM program of the Midwest. “I put my blood, sweat and tears into constantly improving the curriculum with the help of amazing faculty,” he says. “I really love the students.” With his open-door policy, Wheat encourages students to come to him any time they have issues or questions. “I hate for a student to struggle in silence,” he continues. “I remember when I first went to college at the U of C where our motto literally was ‘where fun comes to die.’ I never want a student to feel that way.” He’s well on his way to achieving his goal, partially due to NC’s many benefits – especially the small class size. “With Northwestern College being a relatively small college, students can get that one-on-one interaction and help that they need.” In addition to the personal approach that is part of classroom instruction, Wheat believes the school’s tutoring options from peers, professionals and instructors; structure of coursework; easily accessible location; and online options are all benefits of the educational programs offered at Northwestern College.
Getting into Health Information Management was a wise decision for Christopher Wheat. If you think Northwestern College’s new bachelor’s program in Health Information Management is right for you, apply now.
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