title: Dental assistant evaluation index: a technic to evaluate the work performance of Indian Health Service dental assistants.
abstract: 1. The DAEI appears to be a useful instrument to evaluate dental assistant students in a reliable, uniform manner for the "core" dental assistant activities. 2. Calibration of the supervisors will be needed if the evaluation data are to be used on comparative bases from clinic to clinic or area to area. 3. Further study is needed to confirm the reliability and to establish the validity of the index. The current study should be considered an initial effort that should be continuously modified to maximize its usefulness. 4. Further study is needed to ascertain whether there is a real difference in the way dental auxiliaries view their job as compared to dentists. 5. Scores for dental assistants cannot be indiscriminately compared in a meaningful manner between auxiliaries at different locations. Even within a facility, caution should be applied before making conclusions based upon comparative scores. 6. The use of the DAEI for assessing the quality of the Dental Assistant Training Center was not adequately evaluated. The index may have this potential, but more study is required before it will be clear as to how the index might apply.
mesh_terms: D001130:Arizona; D003726:Dental Assistants / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D003752:Dental Health Services; D004526:Efficiency; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009048:Motor Skills; D009934:Organization and Administration