Establishing Excellence at Pacific Northwest University School of Dental Medicine
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences was founded to address healthcare shortages in rural and medically underserved communities across the Pacific Northwest. As the university launched its new School of Dental Medicine, that mission shaped every decision from curriculum design to clinical training. Preparing for its inaugural cohort, the school needed a reliable, established system to support competency-based assessment, track student progress across varied settings, and meet accreditation requirements with confidence.
Challenge
Ensuring comprehensive assessment of students in an integrated clinical environment while meeting CODA accreditation standards
Solution
Program Management and Intelligence Solution: One45, Analytics
Results
Accreditation readiness, improved assessment and reporting, and a strong foundation for a new dental program
PROGRAM TYPE
Dental Medicine
PROGRAM SIZE
Cohorts of 36 students per year
REGION
North America – USA
Challenge
As the School of Dental Medicine prepared for accreditation and its inaugural class, several challenges emerged.
Students train alongside other health professionals in shared clinical settings that use electronic health record systems designed for patient care, not student assessment. Many traditional dental education tools don’t work well in this kind of integrated environment.
The school needed to address several priorities, including:
- Tracking student progress and competency development across clinical, didactic, and simulation settings
- Capturing qualitative assessments aligned with CODA standards
- Mapping curriculum outcomes and generate accreditation-ready reports
- Supporting faculty and administrators with a system that could scale as the program grew
PNWU needed a solution that could support a new program from day one while meeting rigorous accreditation expectations.
Solution
PNWU adopted Acuity Insights’ One45 and Analytics to build a strong, future-ready foundation for its dental program.
This empowered the program to establish a comprehensive approach to assessment and outcomes management in the following ways:
Implementing a Configurable Assessment Platform
- Uses flexible system allowing the school to incorporate evaluation rubrics and real-time competency tracking designed for dental education.
- Supports consistent documentation of student performance across clinical and academic settings.
Supporting Integrated Clinical Education
- Captures educational data for students training in community clinics with shared EHR systems.
- Enables qualitative assessment and procedure tracking without disrupting interprofessional workflows.
Mapping Curriculum and Tracking Outcomes
- Supports curriculum mapping and reporting, giving the school clear visibility into student learning and achievement.
- Analytics adds deeper insight through dashboards and filters that help faculty and administrators track performance by course, cohort, and clinical site.
Building Confidence Through Training and Support
- Phased implementation helps faculty and staff adopt the system as the program grows.
- Maintains focus on teaching quality and student support throughout rollout.
Results
PNWU’s School of Dental Medicine has established a strong operational and academic foundation ahead of its first class.
By implementing One45 and Analytics, the program has:
- Strengthened accreditation readiness through comprehensive outcomes tracking and reporting
- Enabled consistent assessment of clinical competencies across integrated care settings
- Improved faculty and student experience by reducing administrative complexity
- Supported data-informed decision-making across curriculum and clinical education
Launching a new dental school demands systems that support fairness, transparency, and accountability from the outset. Pacific Northwest University School of Dental Medicine has built a scalable, accreditation-ready framework that supports its mission to serve rural and medically underserved communities.