Medical clearance:
from follow-up to follow-through.
Design brief and facilitator guide · Adapted from an instructional design case study. This sample has not been evaluated in a live implementation.
The performance need
Dental assistants need to maintain an accurate shared tracker, document follow-up, identify unresolved items, and escalate issues before a seven-day pre-surgery checkpoint. Training supports documentation and escalation; it cannot resolve external provider delays or scheduling incentives alone.
Audience and objectives
Audience: dental assistants and patient coordinators. Using a fictional patient record, learners will identify missing information, record the request and next action, distinguish receipt from clinical approval, and apply the case study’s seven-day escalation and rescheduling procedure.
A 15-minute practice sequence
- Attention and purpose (2 min): Present a surgery scheduled in seven days with one form received but not reviewed. Ask what could go wrong if “received” becomes “approved.”
- Recall and model (3 min): Discuss current follow-up practices. Model a tracker entry with owner, date, status, next action, and deadline.
- Guided practice (5 min): Learners update three fictional records: pending provider response, received awaiting review, and unresolved at the checkpoint.
- Feedback and assessment (3 min): Compare entries against the rubric. Explain why only the designated clinician can determine clinical approval.
- Transfer (2 min): Learners describe their next daily tracker review and where they will find the approved escalation procedure.
Assessment rubric
A successful entry includes all five elements: correct status; dated follow-up; named owner; specific next action and deadline; appropriate escalation without assuming approval. Require correction of any status or escalation error before completion.
Evaluation plan
Before a pilot, establish baseline documentation completeness and the proportion of cases approved at least seven days before surgery. After training, audit de-identified entries using the same definitions and timeframe. Examine provider delays and scheduling changes separately. No outcome data are claimed.
Materials and implementation
Fictional patient records, a practice tracker, the organization’s approved SOP, facilitator answer key, and a job aid. The seven-day rule is a scenario constraint, not a universal clinical standard. This sample is for learning design review, not patient care.