Summary

The Practice Assistant is responsible for the day to day maintenance of the College of Dental Medicine - Illinois Simulation Clinic, including the management and taking inventory of materials, equipment and supplies.  The Practice Assistant works in multiple areas within the College of Dental Medicine - Illinois Simulation Clinic.  This position reports to the Associate Dean for Pre-Clinical Studies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Professionalism & Collegiality

• Model and ensure professional and collegial behavior among Student Doctors, Faculty Members and Staff.


• Maintain a positive working environment


• Provide an environment of high quality, open and respectful communications

Equipment, Instrument and Consumable Supplies

• Participate in the cycle of equipment, delivery units, manikins, instruments and supplies

• Prepare and deliver instrument and material carts


• Check out equipment, instrument and supplies


• Check used instruments and equipment back in


• Deliver instrument carts with used supplies back to the dispensary, sterilization room and return used instruments


• Maintain the inventory control system for all disposable supplies, teeth, typodonts, specialty materials for rotations.


• Place purchase orders needed for supplies, materials, instrument and equipment as needed on the Midwestern University portal following proper protocol. 

Clinic and Preclinical Functionality

• Report malfunctioning equipment to appropriate personnel.


• Identify and report general maintenance problems.


• Assure presence of necessary materials.


• Request and maintain the materials and supplies necessary for day to day operation


• Assure adherence of all clinic policies including infection control guidelines


• Participate in instrument, equipment and supply management and annual planning.

Education and Compliance

• Function as an integral component in the quality assurance of College of Dental Medicine - Illinois.   


• Work with student dentists, staff and faculty to assure adherence to all clinic policies and regulatory requirements such as infection control guidelines, OSHA standards and HIPAA privacy and security protocols.


• Provide information on violations of clinic policies to management

Sterilization and Dispensing

• Responsible for the dispensing, collecting, and processing of dental instruments, equipment, and consumable supplies utilized in the College of Dental Medicine - Illinois clinics for the treatment of patients, both real and simulated as well as for the education of student doctors.  

• Prepare and process instruments, supplies and equipment.


• Clean, disinfect, sterilize, package and restock instruments, supplies and equipment.


• Utilize aseptic techniques when handling instruments, equipment and supplies.


• Track, inventory and dispense dental instruments, supplies and equipment. 


• Package and sterilize disposable supplies such as gauze, cotton rolls, and cotton pellets.


• Assist with data entry, ordering and sorting clinical supplies.


• Maintain the organization, cleanliness and general appearance of the sterilizing, and dispensing rooms and their related storage facilities.

• Maintain the stock of supplies needed to properly run the sterilizing and dispensing rooms, such as autoclave bags, tape, towels, patient’s drapes, caps and etc.


• Assist in the training of new employees


• Educate staff, faculty, and students about sterilization and infection control issues

Chair Side Dental Assisting

• Provide chair side dental assisting, when required, as outlined in the Illinois Dental Clinic Team Act. While this is not an exhaustive list, the Practice Assistant will:

• Transfer dental instruments


• Adjust equipment to proper position


• Manipulate and transfer dental materials


• Retract soft tissue


• Evacuate the oral cavity of debris to maintain a clear field of operation


• Make diagnostic quality radiographic images


• Set up and maintain dental cubicles


• Utilize aseptic techniques


• Follow up on proper infection control guidelines


• Demonstrate four-handed dentistry


• Place rubber dams on teeth to isolate them for individual treatment


• Prepare materials and demonstrate taking impressions and pouring and trimming casts of the teeth and mouth from impressions


• Make and demonstrate making temporary crowns to student doctors. 

Additional Responsibilities

• Bilingual/fluency in Spanish and English preferred


• Assist with shelf organization for dispensary


• Assist in the Sterilization Department, as needed




• Dispense items to students and Preclinical instructors as needed.


• Assist with organization for dispensary and SIM clinic benches.


• Participate in Dental Preclinical meetings.




• Other duties may be assigned

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. This individual must have the ability to work in a constant state of alertness and safe manner and must have regular, predictable, in-person attendance. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Other Qualifications

This position requires a significant amount of interaction with the public and many internal customers and therefore, the individual must be able to develop positive rapport effectively. The ability to maintain a professional demeanor, be detail oriented and promote a welcoming atmosphere is essential.  The individual must have the ability to become familiar with EPIC Software System.  This position requires the working knowledge of how to take full mouth radiographic series and be able to demonstrate radiographic techniques with conventional and NOMAD units to students as needed. 

Education and/or Experience              

High school diploma or GED required. Associate’s or technical certification preferred.  1-3 years of dental clinical practice experience required. Must have working knowledge of digital radiography with a radiology certification preferred.  Must possess or be willing to attain within 120 days BLS certificate or CPR certification if requested.  Must be able to constantly take radiographs that meet acceptable standards for diagnostics and patient exposure. Registered Dental Assistant is preferred.  Familiarity with OSHA guidelines. Experience working in a team and customer service-oriented environment.  Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Computer Skills                                                               

Computer proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, One Drive).  Ability to become familiar with EPIC and MiPACS software.

Language Skills                                                                

Intermediate skills:  Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions and procedure manuals.  Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.  Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.

Reasoning Ability                                                           

Basic skills:  Ability apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions.  Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.

Mathematical Ability 

Basic skills:  Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide all units of measure using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.  Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to interpret bar graphs. 

Physical Demands 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, use hands to handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, talk and hear. The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance and sit.  The employee must frequently lift and /or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.  The employee is regularly required to push up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Midwestern University is a private, not-for-profit organization that provides graduate and post-graduate education in the health sciences. The University has two campuses, one in Downers Grove, Illinois and the other in Glendale, Arizona. More than 6,000 full-time students are enrolled in graduate programs in osteopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nurse anesthesia, cardiovascular perfusion, podiatry, optometry, clinical psychology, speech language pathology, biomedical sciences and veterinary medicine. Over 500 full-time faculty members and 400 staff members are dedicated to the education and development of our students in an environment that encourages learning, respect for all members of the health care team, service, interdisciplinary scholarly activity, and personal growth.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance plans as well as life insurance, short/long term disability and pet insurance.  We offer flexible spending accounts including healthcare reimbursement and child/dependent care account.  We offer a work life balance with competitive time off package including paid holiday’s, sick/flex days, personal days and vacation days.  We offer a 403(b) retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, child care subsidy reimbursement program, identity theft protection and an employee assistance program.  Wellness is important to us and we offer a wellness facility on-site with a fully equipped fitness facility. 

Midwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not discriminate against an employee or applicant based upon race; color; religion; creed; national origin or ancestry; ethnicity; sex (including pregnancy); gender (including gender expressions, gender identity; and sexual orientation); marital status; age; disability; citizenship; past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services; genetic information; or any other protected class, in accord with
all federal, state and local laws, including 41 C.F.R. 60-1.4(a), 250.5(a), 300.5(a) and 741.5(a). Midwestern University complies with the Smoke-Free Arizona Act (A.R.S. 36-601.01) and the Smoke Free Illinois Act (410 ILCS 82/).  Midwestern University complies with the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 and Arizona Equal Pay Acts.