Why a Student Professionalism and ethics Club can help your school and how to Start your own chapter.

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What the SPEC?

• Why a Student Professionalism and ethics Club can
  help your school and how to Start your own
  chapter.

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Student Professionalism and Ethics Club

• Why SPEC?
• The August 2007 issue of the Journal of Dental
  Education, reports a study by Andrews et al. in
  which 1,153 dental students were surveyed
  regarding academic integrity. The results showed
  that 74.7 of students admitted to some level of
  cheating. This report, coupled with accounts of
  students forging faculty signatures on patient
  charts, performing unnecessary procedures on
  patients in order to complete requirements and of
  institutions taking monetary contributions to
  accept students to specialty programs, among many
  others, conveys to us that immediate action must
  be taken. ASDA White Paper on Ethics

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Student Professionalism and Ethics Club

• Resolution Number 303-2009
• Title Collaboration of ASDA and SPEC
• Sponsors Ray Klein Southern California   Nicola
  Malik Southern California   Anahita Taraporewalla
  Southern California   Nima Mirmoghtadaei Southern
  California   Andrew Seymore Southern California  
• Board of Trustees Comments The Board recommends
  a yes vote.
• RESOLUTION
• Resolved, that ASDA collaborate with the Student
  Professionalism and Ethics Club (SPEC), and be it
  further,
• Resolved, that the ASDA Council on Professional
  Issues, in collaboration with at least one SPEC
  founder, determine the most appropriate method of
  disseminating information regarding SPEC, and be
  it further
• Resolved, that the ASDA Council on Professional
  Issues, in collaboration with at least one SPEC
  founder, determine the most appropriate method of
  starting SPEC chapters at each dental school, and
  be it further
• House Action Adopted by the House

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How it all got started

• In May of 2007 the first SPEC chapter was formed
  at USC. From there it has grown into chapters at
  schools across the country.

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SPEC at USC

• SPEC Mission Statement
• The purpose of this organization is to increase
  the overall level of ethics and professionalism
  at the USC School of Dentistry. By uniting the
  community of students, faculty and staff of
  USCSD, SPEC will promote lifelong thought and
  action in the arena of dental ethics. Through
  various programs, activities and associations,
  SPEC aims to foster an environment where ethical
  and professional behavior issues can be addressed
  in an open, unbiased forum. SPEC aims to further
  the ethical education of every student at USCSD
  and help achieve the development of ethical and
  professional behavior in the educational setting
  that will accompany the students throughout their
  professional careers. SPEC also aims to form a
  student-centered committee to mediate and resolve
  concerns relative to professional behavior.

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SPEC at USC

• Is not
• Closed to any student for any reason.
• A substitution for the Ethics Committee. Any
  concerns you bring about student or faculty
  behavior will remain confidential.
• A policing body.
• Boring

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SPEC at USC

• Monthly gathering to discuss the field of ethics,
  asking questions, and sharing ideas
• Bringing renowned speakers in the field to USC as
  part of the Deans Lecture Series
• Providing early exposure at 1st year orientation
• Acting as student advocates and improving
  student-faculty relations

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SPEC at USC

• Amalgam vs composite

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SPEC at USC

• Recognition and sponsorship from the American
  Society for Dental Ethics, the American College
  of Dentists, and the American Student Dental
  Association
• Helping dental schools across the country start
  their own chapters of SPEC through the use of an
  Ethics Start-up Kit and advising

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SPEC at USC

• Catching up with technology
• Website SpecDental.org
• SPEC Blog and Facebook page, Group SPEC Dental

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SPEC at OHSU

• Started in April of 2009 after ASDA passed the
  resolution to support SPEC.
• We wanted SPEC at OHSU to be specific for our
  school and to get as many students involved in
  the process as possible.
• Step One What would students at the OHSU School
  of Dentistry like to see from an ethics club?
• What does the administration and faculty want to
  see from an ethics club?

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SPEC at OHSU

• What did the students want?
• Better forum for student teacher communication
• More preventive measures put in place to prevent
  cheating
• More students advocacy on the ethics committee, a
  stronger student voice
• Discussions about ethics in a variety of Dental
  settings
• What some common ethical lawsuits brought against
  dentists?
• What are some problems students face in the
  clinic?
• What problems are practicing dentists facing in
  ethics?

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SPEC at OHSU

• What the Administration and Faculty wanted to
  see.
• Better communications with the students, ideas on
  how to prevent unethical behavior.
• Ideas on how to better enforce the code of
  ethics.
• See more students discuss ethical issues.
• To have students more involved in dealing with
  ethical problems or situations when they do
  occur, more students on the ethics committee.

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SPEC at OHSU

• Declarations Page Faculty wanted a better way to
  prevent cheating and uphold the Code of Ethics
  without making students feel like they are
  already cheaters.
• As a condition of having my examination scored,
  I, __________________________(print name), hereby
  affirm my understanding and obligation to abide
  by the of the OHSU School of Dentistry Code of
  Ethics.

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SPEC at OHSU

• 1st years designing their own code of ethics
• Familiarity with the Code of Ethics
• Personal input in the Code
• Better enforcement of the Code
• Fewer questions and gray areas in the Code
• Personal accountability to uphold the Code

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SPEC at Your School

• What do you as ASDA leaders envision SPEC to be
  like at your school?
• Each school has its own strengths and weaknesses,
  how will you work with these?
• What does your school need?
• Do you want to organize case studies in Ethics?
• Revise your school code of ethics?
• Break the culture of unethical behavior?
• Have guest speakers come?

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SPEC at Your School

• Why start-up a chapter?  why does ethics
  matter?
• How do we start?  core group of 10 students and a
  faculty member.  A knowledgeable club advisor is
  invaluable when discussing things such as ethics
  history or theory, or even clinical protocol.
• How often to meet? 
• What about the administration/faculty? 
• Now what? (What do we do at the meetings?)  ACD
  (www.dentalethics.org)
• Funding schools general club fund, ACD
  regional reps, etc
• Auxillary Sources of help
• SPEC National - Newsletter, Facebook!

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Contacts

• Facebook (Group SPEC Dental)
• Website specdental.org
• Patrick Corning Oregon Health Science
  University
• patrickcorning_at_gmail.com
• Nima Mir University of Southern California
• mirmoght_at_usc.edu