Study Club Once Again Named 'Best Product' in 'Dental Product Shopper'
By Michael Ferraresi on April 9, 2021 | comments
Editor's note: This review of Spear Study Club was written and published by Dental Product Shopper. Also, you can read Spear Resident Faculty member Dr. Jeff Bonk's take on how recent Study Club updates have helped his Chicagoland study club members to integrate a more comfortable virtual component into their meetings.
If there were a way to double your practice revenue by simply investing in your own clinical skillset, you'd try it, wouldn't you? That's what Dr. Chad Carpenter claimed to be true after becoming a member of Spear Study Club, a multi-tiered learning platform that encourages hands-on, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and case collaboration.
Deemed a DPS Best Product in 2018, Spear Study Club dug its roots in dentistry long before that, when Dr. Frank Spear, fresh off a Perio-Pros graduate program, was asked by a group of dentists in Tacoma, Washington, to mentor a new esthetic-focused study club.
Four decades later, Spear Study Club has been embraced by clinicians everywhere for its localized approach to world-class dental education, in which small interdisciplinary groups of clinicians meet locally 8 times per year.
“The workshops that I've been able to be a part of have really elevated me much closer to where I wanted to be in my practice,” shared Dr. Benjamin De Graff, who took part in the DPS product review of Spear Study Club.
Peer-to-peer learning goes virtual
While Spear's commitment to fostering a small-group, peer-to-peer learning environment hasn't changed, health and safety concerns that stemmed from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have altered the ways in which clinicians are accustomed to advancing their dental education, including staying up to date with emerging dental technology, trends, and techniques.
Spear Study Club recently launched an integrated virtual meeting platform that offers the same small-group learning environment, but with added features that enhance member collaboration, including polls and quizzes, digital whiteboards, playlists, easy file and video sharing, recordings, and breakout sessions.
A secure single sign-on via each club's personalized website eliminates the need to download third-party video meeting software, while high-quality video and audio allow for seamless viewing of case modules and materials, as well as group video discussion.
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Education that's constantly evolving
Whether Spear Study Club members are learning together in the same room, online, or a combination of the two, they benefit from a constant stream of cutting-edge curriculum designed to help them integrate new principles into their practices.
For example, Spear recently launched six new practice management learning modules to help clinicians better develop their skillsets as business owners and team leaders.
Dr. De Graff feels that Spear Study Clubs are a great place for dentists who have a passion for high clinical excellence and are looking to expand their skills and knowledge.
“I now look at my career differently and have changed my goals, both professionally and personally, based on the experiences I've had with Spear,” he concluded.