Latest / Roseman 360 / Episode 2: Why Three Years? The Roseman University College of Dental Medicine Difference

Transcript

Episode 2: Why Three Years? The Roseman University College of Dental Medicine Difference · Roseman 360

0:03
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Roseman 360, the official podcast of Roseman University of Health Sciences.
0:09
SPEAKER_03: I'm Rachel Thomas.
0:11
SPEAKER_03: This show is where curious minds meet bold ideas, where healthcare education, research, and innovation come together through conversations that matter.
0:21
SPEAKER_03: Each episode brings you the voices of leaders, educators, clinicians, students, alumni, and change makers who are advancing health and improving lives.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: Our goal is simple to inform, inspire, and connect through stories that broaden perspectives and spark new possibilities.
0:39
SPEAKER_03: Whether you're part of the healthcare community, interested in joining a healthcare profession, or simply passionate about learning, we're glad you're here.
0:48
SPEAKER_03: Today, we're exploring a question that comes up often when people first learn about Roseman University's College of Dental Medicine.
0:56
SPEAKER_03: Why three years?
0:59
SPEAKER_03: Most dental programs across the country take four years to complete.
1:03
SPEAKER_03: Roseman built its Doctorate Dental Medicine program around a different model, a rigorous, year-round, three-year curriculum designed to get students into practice faster without cutting corners on competency or care.
1:17
SPEAKER_03: So, what does it take to compress a traditional four-year curriculum into three?
1:22
SPEAKER_03: What does that mean for the students who choose this path, for the faculty who teach them, and for the patients they'll one day serve?
1:30
SPEAKER_03: Joining me are two people who make that model work from opposite ends of the process.
1:36
SPEAKER_03: Recruiting and supporting the students who choose this path and ensuring the program itself meets the highest standards of accreditation and compliance.
1:46
SPEAKER_03: My first guest is Dr.
1:48
SPEAKER_03: Rachel Novak, Associate Dean of Enrollment and Student Success at Roseman University College of Dental Medicine.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
1:56
SPEAKER_03: Novak works closely with prospective and current students to help them understand what makes Roseman's three-year model different and to support them in succeeding once they're in it.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: Also joining us is Dwayne Wyndon, Associate Dean for Accreditation and Compliance.
2:13
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
2:14
SPEAKER_03: Wyndon oversees the standards and processes that ensure Roseman's accelerated curriculum meets and exceeds the rigorous benchmarks required of every accredited dental program in the country.
2:26
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
2:26
SPEAKER_03: Novak, Dr.
2:27
SPEAKER_03: Winden, welcome to Roseman 360.
2:31
SPEAKER_03: We're so happy to have you.
2:33
SPEAKER_03: We're going to start with why three years?
2:35
SPEAKER_03: And I'm going to direct this question to you, Dr.
2:38
SPEAKER_03: Novak.
2:39
SPEAKER_03: Where did the idea for a three-year dental program come from?
2:42
SPEAKER_03: And why did Roseman commit to this model?
2:45
SPEAKER_02: Dental education is the most expensive of all the health professions, education programs, and the cost of dental education is ever increasing.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: So Dean LeCary, our dean, was very concerned about the cost of dental education that students are eventually going to get priced out.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: They're not going to be able to continue to pursue dental education and become a dentist.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: So he was seeking a meaningful way to actually decrease the cost of dental education.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: And that was the reason behind the transition from a four-year to a three-year program.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: And really exciting, in that transition, we're actually able to decrease tuition by 25%.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: And we're also able to cut living expenses by 25%.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: But really the big piece of that is they're also getting into their career one year earlier, which means you can subtract another$200,000 off of that cost of education.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: So it was a meaningful way to really make a difference in the lives of our future dentists and make it more attainable and accessible to more applicants.
3:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's so amazing that we're doing that for the students so that they can follow their dreams and become a dentist.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Dr.
3:47
SPEAKER_03: Novak.
3:48
unknown: Dr.
3:49
SPEAKER_03: Winden, what does a year-round academic calendar actually look like for the students at Roseman?
3:55
SPEAKER_01: Like you mentioned earlier, it's a rigorous program.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: It's year-round.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: So they have two weeks off during the winter holidays and one week off uh around the 4th of July.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: Other than that, they are in the clinic from 8 a.m.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: until 5 p.m.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Um but the students know this, the faculty know it, this the staff know, they're committed and understand the commitment and are generally excited.
4:16
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
4:17
SPEAKER_03: Um Dr.
4:18
SPEAKER_03: Novak, what are the biggest misconceptions people have about the three-year program?
4:22
SPEAKER_03: Because I'm sure there was there were questions, because there are, we're we're one of two three-year programs in the country, and so um, yeah, what what what are some of those misconceptions?
4:32
SPEAKER_02: So it comes up during every single interview day.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: The applicants are worried about the mental health of a student in a three-year program.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: Dental school is really hard.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: If you're doing four-year dental school, three-year dental school, it doesn't matter.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: It's really hard.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: You're pushing your brain to do things your brain's never done.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: Um, you're making your hands do things your hands have never done.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: But in addition to that, you're confronting real human suffering and you're growing your interpersonal skills.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: Dental school is hard.
4:55
SPEAKER_02: So they're worried about this three-year transition, and honestly, I was worried about it too.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: But we have a lot of mental health resources, a lot of wellness resources.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: We talk about mental health a lot, and it hasn't turned out to be a big issue.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: And I think one of the reasons is our culture.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: We have worked really, really hard to create what we call our lifelong colleague culture in the College of Dental Medicine, where we are recruiting faculty, staff, and students who believe in this culture of respect, that every human is deserving of respect.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: We've very intentionally, with our academic program, decided to set down competition and embrace collaboration.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: So we're looking for people who really find joy in other people's successes.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: They want to follow their own dreams, get their own goals, but we're seeking applicants that find joy in the team doing well together.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: And I think that that creates these really strong relationships among students.
5:48
SPEAKER_02: It creates an openness.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: It's okay to ask for help.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: People can come and ask for resources, and people have a real community of classmates and faculty mentors that can help them maintain their mental health.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: So it really has not been an issue for us, which I'm very grateful for.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Winden, how does the total instructional time in Roseman's program compare to a traditional four-year program?
6:10
SPEAKER_03: That's a great question.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: One we get asked a lot.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Um during the process of um being accredited or approved, having this change approved from our accrediting body, CODA, which is the Commission on Dental Education, we had to demonstrate that our program had an equivalent number of hours in a three-year program as does a four-year program.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: So I went in, I researched all of the different schools, looked at their curriculum, and what I found was a huge variation in the numbers of hours, especially looking at clinical hours versus classroom hours and hours spent in the SIM clinic.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: And so then as we were putting together our curriculum, I compared those hours and we really came out very favorable even in our three-year program.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time we exceeded what most schools were doing in their four-year program.
7:01
SPEAKER_03: It's amazing.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: It's absolutely amazing.
7:04
SPEAKER_03: The next topic I want to talk about is how Roseman ensures graduates are fully prepared despite the compressed timeline, and how the program is evaluated for accreditation.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: Novak, I'm going to start with you.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: How does Roseman's six-point mastery learning model support students moving at an accelerated pace?
7:26
SPEAKER_02: So all of Roseman's colleges utilize the same six-point mastery learning model, which is based on educational research.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: How do adult learners learn best?
7:35
SPEAKER_02: So we can find evidence for the six-point mastery learning model in all the educational literature.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: I think two components that really affect our students is the block schedule and early experiential learning.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: So with the block schedule, our students are taking one biomedical block, one preclinical block at a time while integrated with a clinical experience.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: So they get to really focus in on the topic that we are studying at the time, which allows them to really immerse themselves and I think reach mastery much earlier because they're so focused on the topic.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: But in addition to that, I think the block schedule is one of the pieces that really allowed us to functionally change from a four-year to three-year program.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: We couldn't cut out any curriculum, we couldn't cut out any clinical experiences.
8:18
SPEAKER_02: So we got rid of all the breaks, right?
8:19
SPEAKER_02: We don't have spring break, we don't have fall break.
8:22
SPEAKER_02: We also tightened every single class up and looked at every class.
8:26
SPEAKER_02: You know, at a typical university, you might take a class Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10 to 11 for a semester.
8:31
SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't matter, some classes, that's way more time than they need, and some classes that's not enough time.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: But with a block schedule, we can vary the length of blocks.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: So some are a couple days, some last a year.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: Most of our blocks are two or three weeks long.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: And so we're able to make each block the exact length needed for that content, being able to catch time, all that excess time, and become more efficient in each one of those blocks.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: So it was really important for the three-year transition.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: Another one of the components of the six-point mastery learning model that I think really favorably helped us is early experiential learning.
9:05
SPEAKER_02: And this is our idea that you're going to learn best by doing, right?
9:09
SPEAKER_02: So within the first week of dental school, they're brand new.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: First week of dental school, they're going to start getting into the SIM clinic and the clinic, and they're going to start using their hands, and they're going to start watching students there that are second year and third year students, and they're going to learn from watching their experiences.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: In addition to being a dean on campus, I'm also an anatomy professor, and something pretty exciting happens in the classroom all the time.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: I'll be teaching them branches of cranial nerves.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: We're learning endless branch names.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about cranial nerve lesions in the morning.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: And then that afternoon, they're in the clinic and they're watching a D2 or a D3 anesthetized that nerve, or even doing cranial nerve testing on a nerve because they found something abnormal.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: And they come back to class so excited.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: Dr.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: Novak, Dr.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: I saw that nerve you talked about yesterday, and they tell their classmates about it.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: And it creates this buy-in that, first of all, the biomedical sciences are important.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: They're not just something to push through.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: But they also are getting three full years of biomedical sciences, three full years of clinical experiences, and I think they add scaffolding to each other that create an additive effect that is greater than the sum of their parts.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: And so because of early experiential learning, they're really getting tremendous clinical experiences in those three years.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
10:21
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
10:21
SPEAKER_03: Winden, what safeguards are in place to make sure no competency gets skipped along the way?
10:27
SPEAKER_03: Because I'm sure that was a concern.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: You're shortening the program.
10:31
SPEAKER_03: How are you guaranteeing that they're they're getting the education that they're paying for?
10:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really important.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: We want to make sure that every student leaves the school to be able to work as a general dentist.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: That's the goal.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: And then many of them go on to residency programs and our students do really well there too.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: I would say that number one, talking about the six-point mastery learning model, is the learning assessment component of that.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: And in that, we basically are saying learning isn't just about, or assessment isn't just about the final grade that you get or that final test.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: It happens every day all along the trail.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Every student comes in as a novice, and so we need to understand that.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: And so they are, like Rachel said, with early experiential learning, they are put into the clinic early on.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: They're usually paired with an older student, and so that student works to mentor them, and they're able to teach that student in the beginning how to take a history.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: What do these medical components mean?
11:34
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean if I have a high blood pressure?
11:36
SPEAKER_01: How does that affect treatment, these different diseases and drugs and so forth?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: So they're learning those kind of things early on.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: But that student is being taught by an older student that is learning, but they are also being mentored by a faculty member.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: So the clinic is set up so that every day after, not every day, but after every patient experience, the students are evaluated.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: And that gives the faculty an opportunity to discuss with a student what went wrong, what went right, and to celebrate those kind of things.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: And to help them learn every day, not just at the end of the block, but every day, how to improve.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: And so we find that the students move much more quickly to that endpoint.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Now the way that we make sure that every competency is met is the students follow a pattern throughout the their coursework.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: Starting out I would say with the with the grade book as kind of the foundation.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Everything is laid out when they need to do it, what follows what.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: And as the students begin practicing, they're novices, and so they're just learning.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: An older student might be showing them how to do things.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: The faculty are stepping in and saying, Oh, let me finish this up, let me show you how to do this.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: Later on, maybe the next time or a few other times, then they're taking a little bit more responsibility.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: And pretty soon they're the students that are teaching the younger students.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: And so that really helps, and we've found through doing research that a student observing another student actually accelerates both of their learning dramatically.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: So once they've reached that point where they're now teaching, we say that they've reached independent, a level of being independent.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: They can then go in and challenge whatever procedure that they were working on, uh putting in a crown or doing a molar endo.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: And so at that point, then they have to demonstrate without any input that they know what they're doing.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: Um that's usually an exam on a physical patient, but sometimes it's just a the faculty member may discuss what happened with them and ask them further questions.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: So this is what happened, but what if this were the case instead?
13:50
SPEAKER_01: And so it really expands their education.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: Um but they have to pass all of those competencies, and there is a list of everything that they need to do, and in some cases, how many of them they need to do.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: We don't really like those numbers because they don't always mean what we want them to do.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: And in most instances, our students exceed the numbers that that we're requiring.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: Our students are way beyond some of those numbers that our accrediting body um asks us to achieve.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: And it's because we start them so early, and they have that opportunity to just move through and demonstrate competency, and as they move off, then then they start training other students, and it works really well.
14:29
SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell It's so great.
14:30
SPEAKER_03: Uh there you're correcting those errors in the beginning, and then they're able to continually master that concept, and then when they're comfortable, they're able to move on, and it's so great.
14:39
SPEAKER_03: Just repetition, repetition.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: And um I love the six-point mastering learning model and and what that um the success it gives to our students.
14:48
SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's not not just the repetition, but it's the repetition with constant uh instruction.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Coupled with that.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: It's miraculous.
14:56
SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Yeah, it's it's you're removing that, you're giving them a one-on-one experience with the faculty where they can learn and not feel like worried or scared that they messed up, but it's really just like we're helping you to succeed and to so that you can be the best dentist that you can be.
15:11
SPEAKER_03: And it's it's really amazing.
15:13
SPEAKER_03: Um one more question for you, uh, Dr.
15:15
SPEAKER_03: Winden.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: How does the accreditation process evaluate a non-traditional timeline like this one?
15:22
SPEAKER_01: So schools in the U.S.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: um are evaluated every seven years by our accrediting body.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: So we finished our accreditation um actually in 2023, but because we had just begun our three-year program, they've decided that they are going to come back.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: And so next spring we actually have another visit.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Even though that first visit went well, they approved everything, felt like things went well, but now they want to see that we've implemented the program and things are going well.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: So next spring they will be visiting us on our Nevada campus.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: We've rewritten our entire self-study, which is kind of a written report of what we're doing and how we do it.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: Um was around 3,500 pages.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: And that's followed up, we send that to them, and then that's followed up by an insight or on-site visit by individuals that are experts in the field.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: And they they will go through all of our records, they will watch patients, they will talk to faculty and see if what we wrote and say we're doing is actually what we're doing.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And we're excited about that process.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: It's an opportunity for some self-reflection, make sure that we're doing what we what we think we're doing and that we're doing it the best way possible.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: So then after that, that our next visit is 2030, which so these are kind of short visits for us, but then after that should be every seven years.
16:37
SPEAKER_03: Very cool.
16:38
SPEAKER_03: Um Dr.
16:40
SPEAKER_03: Novak, what does licensure readiness look like for a Roseman graduate compared to a graduate of a traditional program?
16:48
SPEAKER_02: All students, whether they graduate from a three-year or four-year program, take the same national board exam.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: So it's a written board exam.
16:55
SPEAKER_02: And then students also take a hands-on skill practicum licensing exam.
17:01
SPEAKER_02: So our students are in a three-year program are taking both those exams one year earlier than they took them in the four-year program, which seems a little intense and scary.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: But we just graduated our first class of three-year students in June, and they did exceptionally well on both of them.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: Our second year of three-year students are our current seniors.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: Almost all of them have already passed the written boards.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: They're taking their hands on boards this weekend.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so we're really excited they're doing extremely well.
17:27
SPEAKER_03: Um and I want to talk about a little bit about um like what is the residency, like how are they doing with residency with these three-year students?
17:36
SPEAKER_03: Um, are they getting into residency?
17:38
SPEAKER_03: What do those numbers look like?
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Yes, they are getting into residencies very, very well, which was thrilling.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: We knew that they would, like they were well prepared, we knew they would, but we didn't have the data until a few months ago when they actually got matched this past November and this past uh January.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: But it was so exciting to celebrate with them, to bring them all together.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: We had students getting directly into endodontics, into oral surgery, into orthodontics, into PEADs, into every imaginable residency.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: They had great success.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: And I've heard back from a lot of them.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: So those programs just started this summer.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Many have uh responded about how grateful they were for their education and how they feel so prepared in their residency programs, and the residency directors tell them to send more Rosamond students to them.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, our residency directors really like our students because they're trained to work as a team, and that's one of the things that we're really looking for.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: I think team is so important, and that's what um our team-based model.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: It's just you're getting out into the real world and you have to be able to work as a team.
18:37
SPEAKER_03: You you have hygienists, you have dental assistants, like you need to be able to work together to to be the best dentist that you can be.
18:45
SPEAKER_03: Um along the lines, I'm sure the really nice and the really high residency matching is great and it's really promising for incoming students.
18:54
SPEAKER_03: Um the next topic I want to talk about is um the student experience from recruitment, um, what does that support system look like because it is an accelerated path?
19:04
SPEAKER_03: You kind of touched on the mental health in the beginning, um, and and then the well-being within the accelerated environment.
19:10
SPEAKER_03: So, how how are we making our students from prospective student to student to alumni?
19:15
SPEAKER_03: How does that what does that look like?
19:17
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I'll start with you, uh Dr.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: Novak.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: What kind of students tend to thrive in a three-year program?
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, we obviously need students who are academically gifted.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: So we won't accept a student into our program that doesn't have the academic background.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: We only want to bring in students who we know are going to thrive and be able to make the best on their investment.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: But in addition to that, we are looking for students who are flexible, who are resilient, who are adaptable, who are humble, who are teachable.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: One thing, if you spend any time with our dean, you will learn that the College of Dental Medicine is all about change.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: Every year we want to be a little bit better than the year we were before, and we're gonna innovate and try to keep becoming every iteration of us becoming a little bit better, which means we're constantly asking for feedback, but we're all constantly changing things.
20:04
SPEAKER_02: And so we need students who can go with the flow and can handle change, which they're gonna experience through their whole career, right?
20:10
SPEAKER_02: Careers are gonna be changing all the time too, you know, what type of tool they're using in their clinic, all sorts of stuff.
20:15
SPEAKER_02: And so we're looking for students who have that resilience and that grit.
20:19
SPEAKER_02: But I would say the very most important is a student who is drawn to teamwork.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: We literally do absolutely everything in Teams.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: And if a person does not like teamwork, they're gonna struggle at Roseman.
20:33
SPEAKER_02: So in our interview process, that's what we're really looking for.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: We're looking for people who you can tell really care about other people, people who care about the success of the people around them, who understand that, like you mentioned, healthcare is a team sport and that they're ready for that to have a career where they're working together as teams.
20:53
SPEAKER_03: What support systems are in place to help students manage the pace and workload?
20:57
SPEAKER_03: What does that look like for them when they're at when they're a student?
21:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we have a lot of mental health and wellness resources that we kind of touched on before, and a lot of academic success resources.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: But two that I'm going to touch on.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: One is our peer tutoring program.
21:09
SPEAKER_02: We created that a few years ago.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, our D2s and D3s can interview and apply to become a peer tutor.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: And so we have peer tutoring available free to our students, unlimited hours of tutoring for every single biomedical class, every clinical course, but in addition to that, clinic, even help learning our electronic health record.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: You can find a D2 or a D3 student who will meet with a D1 and help them understand that.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Every component of the education will help them study for entrance exams.
21:38
SPEAKER_02: It's pretty incredible to have that sort of mentoring.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: And our D1s really appreciate it.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: And the twos and threes enjoy participating because it helps them study for their board exams, it helps them really learn that material well.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: Another program we just started this past year is a mentoring program where we're assigning D1s before they even matriculate to a D2 or a D3 who is self chosen.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: To be a mentor.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: So they know their mentee and mentor partnerships before they even come.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: And we set up during orientation times for them to meet and interact.
22:08
SPEAKER_02: And our director of academic success actually spent countless hours on making these combinations.
22:15
SPEAKER_02: We're not a state school.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: We're not even a regional school.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: Most of our students are coming from all over the entire country.
22:21
SPEAKER_02: I think currently in our student body we have 46 of 50 states represented.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: They're coming from 200 different undergraduate institutions.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: So this director of academic success was looking at what region they're from.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: If we have a student from Florida, we have a D2 from Florida, matching them up, or a similar university background, trying to find some sort of similarity to help them.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: A lot of our students only have been to Utah one time when they interviewed.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: A lot of them have never been to the western part of the United States.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: And so to have a person from Maine, from Minnesota, from Michigan, from their home state can really help with that transition too.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: So we put a lot of effort into helping them have a mentor, somebody they can ask questions of, not be embarrassed to ask anything.
23:04
SPEAKER_02: And I think that really helps get them started quickly.
23:07
SPEAKER_03: You've really you've set up success for these students.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: And really it's just it's phenomenal to see.
23:17
SPEAKER_03: How do you talk to prospective students who are nervous about the intensity of the program?
23:22
SPEAKER_03: Because I'm sure you get a lot of questions.
23:24
SPEAKER_03: We're only, like I said before, we're only one of two, three year.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: I know there's more three-year programs coming online, but there it it's it's stressful, it's scary.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: It is stressful, it is scary.
23:35
SPEAKER_02: But something I've learned over my years in academia is anything a current student says has 100 times more weight than anything I can say.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: So every single time I'm doing an info session online or I'm going and visiting a university or I have students, applicants coming to us, I always have current students with me.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: And there's really nothing, if we both say the same thing, there's nothing I can say to kind of calm that fear.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: But when they hear real students talking about their experience and the levels of connection, the layer upon layer upon layer of support and just even the pep talk of I did it, of course you can do it.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna do this.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: You did undergrad, you've done hard things your whole life.
24:14
SPEAKER_02: You can for sure do this.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be hard, it should be hard, you want it to be hard, but you can do hard.
24:20
SPEAKER_02: And that's great, and that's exciting.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: And something I always ask the first year students, our D1 students, um, to tell me about the interview experience because part of my job is creating that, and it's a many-hour long thing.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: We have so many people coming and speaking.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: It's this well-orchestrated many-hour machine.
24:37
SPEAKER_02: And I always ask them, what was it that stood out to you at your Roseman interview compared to the other interviews you went to?
24:43
SPEAKER_02: And they never mention our presentation.
24:45
SPEAKER_02: They don't mention anything a dean said or a director said.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: They say your students were the happiest students I saw.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: That's what stuck out to me.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: What I remember about my interview at Roseman is the students were walking around, they felt happy and connected and supported and excited that they were in dental school.
25:00
SPEAKER_02: And that that was the takeaway.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: That was the message of all these hours of presentation we do to them is that our students are happy.
25:07
SPEAKER_02: They are thriving.
25:08
SPEAKER_02: They love being at Roseman's Dental School.
25:11
SPEAKER_03: What have you learned from the students who've gone through the full three years?
25:16
SPEAKER_03: So much.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: So our first three-year class started in 2023.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: We just graduated them in June of this year.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: We just this past couple months started our fourth three-year class, right?
25:28
SPEAKER_02: Um we did a good job with that first group.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: They graduated, they passed their boards with flying colors, they got into residencies, uh, they're doing really well, but we learned a lot during each one of their years.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: So we do a lot of asking our students for feedback.
25:44
SPEAKER_02: We also ask our staff and our faculty, you know, hey, some clinic faculty, what are you noticing about their hand skills?
25:49
SPEAKER_02: Hey, clinical faculty, patient care leaders, are there any gaps in their knowledge?
25:53
SPEAKER_02: Are you seeing something?
25:54
SPEAKER_02: What could we do better?
25:55
SPEAKER_02: And so we're constantly gathering that feedback and just tweaking things.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: So every iteration, you know, the graduating class did great, but our seniors had some tweaks.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: Our D2s had more tweaks, our D1s had more tweaks, and we're trying to just fine-tune it.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: And we hope to never quit fine-tuning it.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: We really believe that students are evolving, education's evolving, the tools are evolving, the field of dentistry is evolving, which means we have to evolve too.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: Just because we had a great product at one point in time doesn't mean it's gonna be great five years and ten years and twenty years and fifty years and a hundred years down the line.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: And so we just need to constantly be self-reflective and humble and keep tweaking to try to create the very best experience for our learners.
26:38
SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Well, and that's gonna make them successful.
26:41
SPEAKER_03: Like you have to be able to kind of roll with the changes, and there's so much changing, um, even in the field of dentistry from uh DSOs, the corporate and um private practice.
26:53
SPEAKER_03: Like there's so much that's changing and and it's and you have to be prepared for that.
26:56
SPEAKER_03: And it's so great to hear that you guys are you're constantly looking at, evaluating it, and realizing that like it's we don't have to be perfect.
27:05
SPEAKER_03: And like nobody's perfect, but we can we can work on perfecting um our curriculum, perfecting their experience so that they can come out and be successful and be happy with the career that they've chosen.
27:17
SPEAKER_03: Um the the last topic um I want to talk about is the real-world impact of the three-year model.
27:24
SPEAKER_03: So for our graduates, for the profession, uh, and for the communities that Roseman serves.
27:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, Dr.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: Moon, I'm gonna start with you.
27:32
SPEAKER_03: How does graduating a year earlier affect a new dentist's career and finances?
27:38
SPEAKER_01: It's substantial.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a program like ours that is truly a three-year tuition, um we have some schools who have looked at this and are taking their four-year tuition and just cramming it into three years, so that's not really helpful.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: But Roseman has agreed with our administration, and thank you very much, they're fabulous, um, to keep our tuition truly a three-year curriculum.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: So that means that they have 25% less student debt as they're leaving, but it also means that they're a year earlier starting their career or starting their residency.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: They have less interest that they're paying on all of those loans.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, they have a year less of uh living expenses and fees.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: It's a substantial amount.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Um we found that easily a student is saving$100,000 plus a year just for that.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: But then, as Rachel mentioned earlier, if you consider that they're now into their career a year earlier, so if we take that first year, they're probably going to be making around$200,000 a year.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: But if we also look at the end of their career, we've also added a year at their end of their career when their salary is really much more substantial.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: So the savings is enormous.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: And students have really responded to that.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: They understand, and especially with changes that we have with student loans and so forth, it's important for them.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: And uh thanks to the innovation and and forward thinking of our dean, um, we've been able to make a huge impact in their lives.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: Um we talked about residencies, but they're also getting into residency even longer.
29:16
SPEAKER_03: And what's oral surgery?
29:18
SPEAKER_03: That's how many years is that?
29:19
SPEAKER_03: So just cutting a year off is substantial when they're when they're wanting to specialize.
29:27
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
29:27
SPEAKER_03: Novak, what feedback do you hear from employers or communities about Roseman graduates?
29:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we talked about how in dental education we're pushing their our students' brains, we're pushing their hands to learn new skills.
29:40
SPEAKER_02: Um but because of our team-based approach, we're also really having them practice and push their interpersonal and emotional intelligence limits.
29:48
SPEAKER_02: That's a whole nother skill set that's just as important for us to learn and grow and be guided through by faculty members, just like our intellectual and our hand skills is that intellect or that emotional intelligence piece and that interpersonal piece.
30:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, we have residency directors that all the time are going to, they reach out to us and they say, your students come out.
30:10
SPEAKER_02: We don't have to do anything, they immediately work in their team.
30:13
SPEAKER_02: They're good leaders, they understand to how to handle hard challenges collaboratively.
30:18
SPEAKER_02: Dental education in general, traditionally, is very individualized.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: So most students, it's one student, one patient a day, they're working by themselves in isolation, practicing their skill, getting better and better on their skill, but they're not used to dealing with other people and other parts of their team.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: But practice is always team-based.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: Even if you're a solo practitioner, like you mentioned earlier, Rachel, you have hygienists, you have dental assistants, you have front desk individuals, and you need to know how to lead a team, you need to know how to de-escalate situations, you need to know how to work with people who have totally different backgrounds than you.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think our students learn through trial and error.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: It's hard work, right?
30:54
SPEAKER_02: This is a hard skill that they're learning, and they have maybe some painful moments too.
30:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, but they come out really believing that we're stronger together as a team and that we can look at the members of our team and find everyone's strengths and use everyone's strengths to lean on and kind of link arms and work on this together to be able to be the best functioning healthcare team, which in the end is gonna make them more money, but also it's gonna provide better care for patients.
31:22
SPEAKER_02: The patients in their office are gonna receive better care if they're good teammates.
31:25
SPEAKER_02: So it's exciting to know that people recognize that, employers recognize it, residency directors recognize it.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: Roseman students know how to be a teammate.
31:33
SPEAKER_03: And and I think as a patient, you can recognize those offices where they're it's questionable the leadership.
31:39
SPEAKER_03: Like you can you can the tension, you can it you can recognize that.
31:43
SPEAKER_03: So it's so wonderful that Roseman's um teaching that early on so that they can be successful because ultimately you need patients, you need happy patients to keep coming back to be a successful uh dentist.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: Um this question I'm gonna pose to both of you, but could this model influence how other dental schools think about curriculum design in the future?
32:02
SPEAKER_03: And I know there's more three-year coming on, but um I'll open it up to you, both of you.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: It's really difficult.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, like you said, some of the newer schools that are coming on are looking at a three-year curriculum.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: In fact, um there is one that I think this is their second class that's a new three-year program.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: So it's much easier for them, but for a program that's established, um, it's difficult.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh we've had dozens of other schools at Dr.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: LeCary's uh request come in and look at our school and they're excited about what they see, but they leave going, we could never do this.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, due to red tape, during during uh because of history, um faculty, alumni, their students, uh departments, which we don't have.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: All of those things make change really, really difficult.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: We've had schools tell us that we can't even change a course, let alone the entire curriculum.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: And so, yes, they're interested and excited about it, but most of them leave a little disappointed that they they're they're not going to be able to achieve that at their institution.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Yeah, there's just there's benefit in the fact that we're a private nonprofit.
33:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
33:12
SPEAKER_03: Um rather than um like a state-run school.
33:15
SPEAKER_03: Um there is there's value in that.
33:17
SPEAKER_02: But even with that, we have a dean who's just a visionary, right?
33:22
SPEAKER_02: That's leadership.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: He wants to transform dental education and is not going to take no for an answer and is gonna find a way.
33:30
SPEAKER_02: And it has been so much work.
33:34
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that it's hard, it's hard to acknowledge the amount of work and the layers of work of re-looking in every single course to reimagine the entire clinical experience.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: How can we even teach this?
33:45
SPEAKER_02: What does it even mean to learn?
33:46
SPEAKER_02: Like how do we teach when are students learning?
33:49
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've had to kind of completely throw away a lot of what we understood before and try to relearn new ways to educate people.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: So it's very exciting.
33:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it takes a leader who is willing to push the boundaries.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: Both of us are anatomists, and so I remember when I first started at Roseman, we didn't have I when I found out we didn't have a cadaver lab, I'm like, how do you how do you do this?
34:11
SPEAKER_01: And then we discovered that our students are doing just fine, excuse me, without it.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: Um and so that's kind of carried forward into other things.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: We're like we don't need to be traditional to make sure that learning occurs.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it can probably occur better if we're looking outside the box.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: And uh Dr.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: LeCary's encouraged us to do that.
34:33
SPEAKER_03: Um we're almost out of time.
34:36
SPEAKER_03: Um but I want to get some final thoughts.
34:38
SPEAKER_03: We've got um a couple minutes before we wrap up.
34:41
SPEAKER_03: Um and both of these questions are um posed to both of you so you can combine them.
34:47
SPEAKER_03: But if someone is considering dental school, uh, what would you want them to know about Roseman's approach?
34:52
SPEAKER_03: And then what gives each of you the most pride about this program?
34:57
SPEAKER_03: And you guys have put a lot of work into making this a success, and it it's phenomenal.
35:04
SPEAKER_03: A lot of blood, sweat, and tears, I'm sure, late nights, um, sleepless nights.
35:09
SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, um Dr.
35:11
SPEAKER_03: Nomack, do you want to start?
35:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that, and and I tell all of our our applicants this when they show up, we are looking for big-hearted, kind-hearted students.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: We're only going to interview people we know who are academically prepared.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: We have plenty of individuals who are academically prepared.
35:29
SPEAKER_02: We're looking for people who can see outside themselves and can see people around them and want to be part of the solution in their lives and want to be able to help make the world a brighter place.
35:39
SPEAKER_02: And our students inspire me.
35:42
SPEAKER_02: Like I am so proud of our students every day.
35:45
SPEAKER_02: One thing that really sparks joy in me is when I'm wandering around campus, maybe even out by the receptionary, and I can just listen to a patient talking to one of our students or hearing a patient talking to their loved one after their appointment.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: And they talk about how it's the best dental care they've ever received.
35:59
SPEAKER_02: They were so nice, they didn't make me feel scared at all.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: They were so easy to talk to, and you can hear these testimonials.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: Our students are actually relieving real human suffering on a daily basis.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: They are helping people improve their lives.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: They are making the world around them brighter.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it just makes me very proud to be a part of Roseman and really proud to interact with each of our students and our graduates.
36:25
SPEAKER_03: We're lucky to have you, Dr.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: Dr.
36:27
SPEAKER_03: Winden.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if I were talking to a prospective student, I would talk about the lifelong colleague philosophy and that it makes all the difference.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: You can go to any of the dental schools and come out being prepared.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: But what is your experience going to be like while you're there?
36:43
SPEAKER_01: Is it going to be miserable?
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to hate every day that you're there, or are you going to make lifelong friends, colleagues, and enjoy your time and experience and feel like you've really not just learned the material, mastered the material, but also given back and are continuing to give back to the underclassmen.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's exciting.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, what I'm most proud of, um, the Lifelong Colleague is definitely right up there.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: But I think overall for me it's the innovation, the change that occurs, like Rachel mentioned, continuously.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: We're always making change.
37:17
SPEAKER_01: It's not just for random reasons, but there's always a focus.
37:21
SPEAKER_01: We always have a focus to move forward the program, to make it better.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's the goal of Roseman is to make sure that the experience that every student, every faculty member in the Navy and our staff have is that it's a better experience today than it was yesterday.
37:36
SPEAKER_01: And moving forward, we can only expect the best.
37:39
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much, Dr.
37:40
SPEAKER_03: Winden.
37:40
SPEAKER_03: I I can attest, my husband graduated from the four-year program at Roseman, and that lifelong colleague, he has lifelong friends.
37:48
SPEAKER_03: They call each other when they have questions about cases.
37:52
SPEAKER_03: Um, it's really cool to see it in action, and it works.
37:57
SPEAKER_03: Um they they're just gonna forever be colleagues that can help each other succeed, and and it's wonderful.
38:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, Dr.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: Novak, Dr.
38:06
SPEAKER_03: Winden, um it thank you both for helping us understand what really goes into Roseman's three-year DMD program and why it works.
38:16
SPEAKER_03: As we've heard today, Roseman's three-year model isn't about doing less, it's about doing things differently.
38:22
SPEAKER_03: A focused, year-round curriculum built on a proven mastery learning framework designed to prepare confident, competent dentists a year sooner.
38:31
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening or watching this episode of Roseman 360.
38:35
SPEAKER_03: We hope you'll all subscribe, like, and share on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
38:43
SPEAKER_03: In the weeks and months ahead, you'll hear from a variety of hosts and guests as we continue exploring the people, ideas, research, and innovations that are shaping healthcare and improving lives.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: I'm Rachel Thomas.
38:57
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for joining us on Roseman 360.