DH 250 - Oral Health Services V

Credit Hours: 5

This course consists of three (3) modules and each module must be passed in order to pass DH 250. A clinical module will continue patient treatment experiences to strengthen technical skills, planning, time management, self-assessment, and critical thinking. Experiences will include the assessment and management of children, adolescents, special needs and geriatric patients, advanced instrumentation techniques, air polishing, chemotherapeutics, and intraoral and extraoral dental radiography. Students must recruit patients for treatment and recall patients to evaluate treatment outcomes. A lecture module will concentrate on professional practice topics including the structure of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA), legal aspects of dental hygiene practice, risk management, licensure requirements, and procedures, health care provider/patient relationships, ethical dilemmas, resume writing, job interviewing techniques, employee/employer rights, and obligations. Another module will present clinically related subjects of emerging interest, topical reviews, and dental specialty presentations. Case studies will be utilized as a capstone activity designed to guide the development of critical thinking skills and the application of dental hygiene theory to comprehensive patient care. The minimum passing grade for the clinic module is “C-.” The minimum passing grade for the lecture modules is “C-.”

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

(Clinic outcomes 1-9, Clinic Lecture outcome 10, Professional Practice outcomes 11-16)

apply principles of professional, legal, and ethical conduct and practical and culturally competent professional communication skills in all interactions with patients, peers, and other healthcare professionals;
demonstrate the dental hygiene care process (assess, diagnose, plan, implement, evaluate, and document) to maintain a competency level in the clinical setting within a designated timeframe;
identify the high-risk periodontal patient and demonstrate the dental hygiene process of care (assess, diagnose, plan, implement, evaluate, and document) to maintain competency in the clinical setting;
utilize safe practices during patient treatment and demonstrate OSHA standards for infection control in the dental setting;
self-assess clinical performance to develop critical thinking skills and demonstrate improvement;
apply advanced principles to include all levels of total patient care;
uses problem-solving and critical thinking to effectively demonstrate independence for all patient treatment;
participate in service learning to provide dental hygiene care to underserved populations;
demonstrate the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment (maintenance and return patients);
analyze and evaluate topics/experiences that challenge the student’s critical thinking to develop decision-making skills regarding patient care and treatment recommendations;
identify and analyze cases for Criminal and Administrative vulnerability;
apply the laws and regulations about the practice of Dental Hygiene in New York State; identify steps to prevent malpractice lawsuits and informed consent issues in dental hygiene practice;
describe the purpose of legal requirements for licensure and the nature of licensure examinations;
develop a resume for future employment seeking;
demonstrate a critical examination of values and moral principles using ethical reasoning using the dental hygiene core values; and
analyze and reflect on future issues affecting the Dental Hygiene profession, implications for Dental Hygiene practice, and education with possible solutions.

Prerequisites: All required fall semester, second year courses in the Dental Hygiene curriculum must be passed.
Corequisites: All required spring semester, second year courses in the Dental Hygiene curriculum and current BLS certification.
S (N)

Withdrawal from or failure of a required course prevents graduation from the curriculum. General education courses may be taken earlier than indicated but may not be taken later than the prescribed schedule.