Spear Education's Online Platform: Your Resource for Ongoing Education
For every dentist, education is the gateway to their professional life. It’s also the gateway to professional growth. All the years of education and training to become a dentist took passion and genuine interest in the subject matter.
Further into their careers, dentists need to tap into that same passion for learning in order to grow professionally.
With the right CE platform, it doesn’t have to feel like you’re just “checking a box.”
Why is it that obtaining CE can sometimes feel like a chore? For many dentists across the country, accessing quality CE continuums becomes tedious when travel expenses and time away are factored in. The Internet offers a solution to that problem, allowing dentists to easily access patient education and take CE credits when and where it’s convenient for them. However, not all online courses are created equal.
Among CE providers, Spear Education’s Online Education Platform stands out not only for its comprehensive course offering, but also for the well-documented positive user feedback it’s received.
“I use [Spear Online] constantly,” said Dr. Edward Domina. He called it an excellent resource for ongoing education and staff training, and added, “It helps maintain my excitement for dentistry.”
Dr. Domina was one of the current users who took part in a Dental Product Shopper evaluation of Spear Online. The evaluators’ feedback resulted in a high schore of 4.8 out of 5, making this platform a DPS “Best Product.”
Here are three areas—the “three Cs”—in which Spear Online excels:
Content
Spear Online was evaluated based on several criteria, and its content received the highest scores. Specifically, “overall content of online CE courses” and “clinical content on wear, occlusion, treatment planning, and restorative dentistry” received nearly perfect scores of 4.9 out of 5.
Spear Online’s course library includes more than 1,500 video lessons and other materials focused on clinical expertise, practice management, and team training. Evaluators expressed that they were impressed that there’s information about virtually any topic in dentistry, along with concise videos that explained in detail how to diagnose and perform larger cases. Dr. Matthew Vamvakas said his quest for enhanced clinical knowledge for complex treatment was met by “very comprehensive and step-by-step planning.”
Dr. Russ Jensen also noted the high quality of the content. “It has made me a better clinician and gives me information I can use immediately,” he said. “[Spear Online] seems dedicated to educating clinicians and to doing dentistry the right way, rather than the easiest or cheapest.”
While dentists, hygienists, assistants, and office staff can access individualized learning, Spear Online also includes education materials for patients. Dentists can provide these to their patients via email playlists and streamed animations on their practice websites. “This is like magic,” said current user and evaluator Mariam Susanne Fallahzadeh, DMD, about the patient education platform. “Patients are ready for treatment after watching these videos.”
Convenience
“Convenience of learning new clinical skills” scored 4.7 out of 5 points, while “convenience of educating staff online” scored 4.6. Dr. Cassady Rider of Cherokee, Iowa, used to have difficulty finding quality CE courses in proximity to her office. Through Spear Online, she now has access to independent study continuums at the time and location of her choice.
Dr. David Green of Alaska had a similar predicament. He's now able to access top-quality videos, articles, and educators via Spear Online. “I appreciate the ease of online access to fantastic clinical courses [and] like that my staff has access to the educational materials,” he said.
Community
Spear Online also offers community features designed to give clinicians the confidence to take on larger, more complex cases.
“The Case Assistant” feature provides searchable, symptom-specific advice for challenging cases and gives clinicians the confidence to take on larger, more complex cases. “Spear Talk” offers solutions to the most challenging cases from Spear faculty members and a dentist-only discussion forum to enable open exchanges with peers.
Dr. Grant Glauser said Spear Online allowed him to learn new procedures and better triage difficult cases, while Dr. Jensen has found that Spear Online has helped improve patient care and increase the success and profitability of his practice.
Perhaps paying the ultimate compliment, Dr. Keti Deligrudeva has found that through Spear Online, her professional life is now more profitable and enjoyable.
READ THE FULL EVALUATION HERE
Want to learn more? Spear Online allows practices to demo Spear Online, either via their website or by calling (855) 625-2333. To learn more, view the Spear Online Interactive Pathway.