Over the past several years, there has been much discussion amongst the CALAOMS staff and the oral and maxillofacial surgery assistants regarding the inconvenience of offering the OMSA weekend seminars only four times a year, and requiring the assistants to attend two full days of intensive lecturing prior to taking a final exam. After much deliberation and research, CALAOMS has decided to take the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Assistants Course (OMSA) on-line in 2012. It is targeted to be up and running by the end of August 2012. In order to make this happen, there will need to be a brief interruption in the OMSA course offerings. Those with expiring certificates prior to and including August of 2012 will be extended to the end of the year 2012.

The on-line Home Study portion of the course will remain the same. There will no longer be weekend seminars with a final exam administered after two full days of lectures.  Instead, the lectures will be voiced over and accessible on-line and the final exam will be administered at one of several Testing Centers throughout California several times a year. On-line forums will be used for students to post questions and faculty to respond. Assistants can start the course at any time and work at their own pace, with completion of the course due within a 6 month time frame.

Pricing for this course has not been determined yet.  Assistants are advised to keep their “BLS for Healthcare Provider” cards through the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross current, as they will not be able to start the course until a copy of their card is received at the CALAOMS office.

We invite you to check back periodically for updated OMSA course information here at the CALAOMS website.