Abstract
Objectives: This qualitative research was conducted to clearly find and clinically understand dental hygienists’ work experience in order to lay the legal foundation for their work range and safe execution. Methods: From March 1 to April 30, 2019, seven study participants were selected and participated in-depth interviews. Phenomenological research methodology was applied for intensive analysis. Results: They performed jobs that required no professionalism, such as dental assistance, except for scaling. Dental hygienists, nurses’ aids, and dental technicians performed the same jobs regardless of difficulty level and legal work range. Dental hygienists failed to accurately recognize their legal work range. Since there was the wide gap between their legal work range and actual work range, it was necessary to expand the work range in line with actual conditions. Conclusions: Given the results, it is necessary to conduct in-depth discussions within the dental circle to make dental hygienists’ work execution in line with reality by improving and discussing a legal system for job assignment and expansion of workers. Therefore, it is required to form a plan for the many jobs dental hygienists executed in a clinical setting.
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