occupational therapy assistanttodental hygienist
A occupational therapy assistant already meets 27% of what the dental hygienist role asks for. The move turns on 23 required skills not yet in the profile.
27%
78.4/ 100
1 Share of the dental hygienist role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the occupational therapy assistant profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.
Why this move works
A dental hygienist role treats 9 of its required skills as things a occupational therapy assistant already does. These are the ones it depends on most.
- communicate in healthcare
- deal with emergency care situations
- empathise with the healthcare user
- ensure safety of healthcare users
- follow clinical guidelines
- interact with healthcare users
What stands in the way is 23 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 9 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A dental hygienist role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a occupational therapy assistant background worth leading with.
- already held deal with emergency care situations assisting and caring
- already held interact with healthcare users communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held provide health education communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held empathise with the healthcare user assisting and caring
- already held follow clinical guidelines assisting and caring
- already held communicate in healthcare communication, collaboration and creativity
All 9 carried skills, including the 9 the dental hygienist role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you would need to learn
The 27 missing skills fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.
- required, not held accept own accountability required
- required, not held apply context specific clinical competences required
- required, not held counsel on nutrition and its impact on oral health required
- required, not held educate on oral healthcare and disease prevention required
- required, not held follow dentists' instructions required
- required, not held promote health and safety policies in health services required
- required, not held develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship required
- required, not held work in a multicultural environment in health care required
- optional, not held inform policy makers on health-related challenges optional
- optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
- required, not held apply antibacterial substance to teeth required
- required, not held perform dental hygiene interventions required
- required, not held remove calculus, plaque and stains required
- required, not held contribute to continuity of health care required
- required, not held deal with patients' anxiety required
- required, not held comply with legislation related to health care required
- required, not held manage infection control in the facility required
- required, not held promote inclusion required
- required, not held evaluate clinical outcomes of dental hygiene interventions required
- required, not held perform dental charting required
- optional, not held keep records for dental prostheses optional
- required, not held apply organisational techniques required
- required, not held respond to changing situations in health care required
- required, not held perform dental radiographs required
- optional, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation optional
- required, not held polish dental restorations required
1 further area in the appendix
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries a dental hygienist role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 apply antibacterial substance to teeth skill · occupation specific
- 02 evaluate clinical outcomes of dental hygiene interventions skill · occupation specific
- 03 perform dental hygiene interventions skill · occupation specific
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 9 skills that carry over
- already held communicate in healthcare skill
- already held deal with emergency care situations skill
- already held empathise with the healthcare user skill
- already held ensure safety of healthcare users skill
- already held follow clinical guidelines skill
- already held interact with healthcare users skill
- already held listen actively skill
- already held provide health education skill
- already held work in multidisciplinary health teams skill
The 1 learning area not shown above
- required, not held use e-health and mobile health technologies required
4 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held keep records for dental prostheses optional
- optional, not held inform policy makers on health-related challenges optional
- optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
- optional, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation optional
37 held skills the dental hygienist role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role advise healthcare users on occupational health skill
- not needed by the target role apply techniques of occupational therapy skill
- not needed by the target role assist healthcare users achieve autonomy skill
- not needed by the target role assist in performing physical exercises skill
- not needed by the target role community-based rehabilitation knowledge
- not needed by the target role create individual treatment programmes skill
- not needed by the target role develop a rehabilitation programme skill
- not needed by the target role develop therapeutic relationships skill
- not needed by the target role ergonomics knowledge
- not needed by the target role exercise patience skill
- not needed by the target role first aid knowledge
- not needed by the target role general medicine knowledge
- not needed by the target role geriatrics knowledge
- not needed by the target role health care legislation knowledge
- not needed by the target role health care occupation-specific ethics knowledge
- not needed by the target role human physiology knowledge
- not needed by the target role hygiene in a health care setting knowledge
- not needed by the target role instruct on the use of special equipment for daily activities skill
- not needed by the target role kinesiology knowledge
- not needed by the target role mechanotherapy knowledge
- not needed by the target role monitor patients' progress related to treatment skill
- not needed by the target role movement techniques knowledge
- not needed by the target role neurology knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational health knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational physiology knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational science knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational therapy theories knowledge
- not needed by the target role orthopaedics knowledge
- not needed by the target role perform occupation analyses skill
- not needed by the target role perform patient activity analyses skill
- not needed by the target role physical medicine knowledge
- not needed by the target role provide stroke rehabilitation services skill
- not needed by the target role record healthcare users' progress related to treatment skill
- not needed by the target role rehabilitation knowledge
- not needed by the target role remediate healthcare user's occupational performance skill
- not needed by the target role supervision of persons knowledge
- not needed by the target role vocational rehabilitation knowledge
Other moves recorded from occupational therapy assistant
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.