Elements of Prescribing

Continuing dental education for registered dental hygienists (RDHs)

Online | CE credits will vary* | $500 per module | Continuous intake

* This number is an estimate. Your regulatory body will issue the credits.

Elevate health care collaboration and communication skills at Alberta’s only prescribing course for RDHs. Successful completion of the course allows RDHs to apply for a prescriber's ID and to issue Schedule 1 drugs.

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What you'll learn | Pricing and details | Faculty

What you will learn

Summary

Issuing prescriptions requires an understanding of the processes that contribute to drug use as well as the acquisition of the essential competencies that are necessary for safe and effective prescribing.

To ensure participants acquire the knowledge and skills to prescribe medications, this course consists of seven modules:

Module 1: Professional accountability, collaboration and communication
Module 2: Decision-making related to medication use
Module 3: Principles of pharmacology
Module 4: Drugs used in dental hygiene
Module 5: Risk management, drug errors and medical emergencies
Module 6: Issuing a prescription
Module 7: Storage, disposal and labeling

How we'll help you succeed

This course aims to provide RDHs with a firm grasp on all aspects of prescribing, including collaboration with other health-care professionals, communication with patients, and prescribing medication in a manner compliant with legal guidelines and best practices.

Following completion of this course, the RDHs will be able to:

Prescribe Schedule 1 drugs.
Describe professional accountability.
Identify the effective mechanisms for collaboration and communication with clients and other health-care professionals.
Apply the Dental Hygiene Process of Care to obtain and update a client's comprehensive health history.
Describe the basic principles of drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
Research the mechanisms of actions, indications for use, potential actions and contraindications of specific drugs, and use this information to make decisions about the care plan.
Implement risk reduction strategies to increase client safety.
Issue prescriptions that are accurate, clear and complete by incorporating the prescribing principles.
Comply with drug storage, disposal and labeling requirements to ensure safe drug handling to protect clients and the environment.

Pricing and details

Modules

This course runs on a continuous intake model. After completing all seven modules and the final exam, the RDH will receive a certificate from the University of Alberta and be eligible to apply for a prescriber's ID from their regulatory body. Participants must complete the modules in order but can enroll in a module any time it is offered.

Each module must be completed sequentially and within the allocated time frame, but participants can enroll in any slot it is offered. Each module also has several assignments and quizzes that must be submitted with a passing grade to be eligible to take the next module in the sequence. Participants have up to two years to complete all modules.

Once a month, there will also be a live Zoom meeting in which a pharmacist and the instructor will be available to students to ask questions and receive help. These monthly meetings are not required but are highly recommended.

Participants must pre-register for a final exam date on available days. The exam prep and the exam can and should be taken in the same month.

Professional accountability, collaboration and communication
- Length: One month
- Describes the meaning of professional accountability and the mechanisms for effective collaboration and communication with other health care professionals and with clients, including clients with drug-seeking and drug-abuse behaviour. The college-specific Standards of Practice (Alberta College of Dental Hygienists) are also referenced.
Decision-making related to medication use
- Length: One month
- Details the Dental Hygiene Process of Care and documentation requirements. Eight fundamental questions, relevant to decision-making and medication use, are incorporated into this Process of Care to guide you as you create a care plan for clients.
Principles of pharmacology
- Length: Two months
- Explains the routes of drug administration, drug pharmacokinetics, drug pharmacodynamics and adverse drug reactions. Therapeutic indexes and special prescribing considerations for pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and older adults are also discussed.
Drugs used in dental hygiene
- Length: Two months
- Describes the side effects associated with medication use, including both common systemic and oral side effects. The major focus of this module is the drugs that RDH prescribers are authorized to prescribe to help treat oral conditions. It will specifically highlight problems or risks with the drugs and medications that cause the condition. Useful information that will enable the RDHs to make appropriate and safe decisions regarding medication use is incorporated.
Risk management, drug errors and medical emergencies
- Length: One month
- Describes how to assess risk for the client, for the dental hygienist, and within the practice environment. Risk management strategies are introduced to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes and include how to manage drug errors. The pharmacotherapeutics and pharmacokinetics of five drugs used to manage medical emergencies are examined.
Issuing a prescription
- Length: Two months
- Covers the prescribing principles, the requirements for providing accurate and legal prescriptions, and the methods for preventing and reducing medication errors. Sample prescriptions are shown.
Storage, disposal and labeling
- Length: One month
- Describes the storage and disposal requirements for prescription and non-prescription drugs and outlines the lab.

View Available Dates

Payment

Participants are required to pay the full $500 fee per module at the time of registration. Participants do not have to pay for the following modules until they have registered for that specific module.

Prerequisites

Participants must be a certified RDH and hold a valid practice permit.

Required textbooks

Participants are required to have Lexicomp Online for Dentistry: Basic Package access for the course. A hard copy of the Lexicomp Drug resource is not required.

Online materials are accessible for one year.

Questions?

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Our leading faculty

Kimberly Currie
Associate Clinical Professor

Currie, RDH, BScDH, is a clinical instructor with the local anesthetics for dental hygienists course and facilitates the elements of prescribing course for dental hygienists with continuing dental education.

Currie graduated from the University of Alberta dental hygiene diploma program in 2000 and with a bachelor of science in dental hygiene degree in 2001. Always looking for ways to expand her knowledge and practice, Currie completed the elements of prescribing course through the College of Registered Dental Hygienists in 2010.

Currie works primarily in general private practice. She is also an associate clinical professor in the undergraduate dental hygiene program at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Nathan Beahm
Associate Clinical Professor

Dr. Beahm, BSP, PharmD, is an associate clinical professor with the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta. His teaching and research include the areas of infectious diseases and pain management.

He completed a bachelor of science in pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan and a doctor of pharmacy and postdoctoral research fellowship, both at the University of Alberta. He has practiced in a variety of areas over the years, in both ambulatory and hospital settings.

Currently, he maintains clinical practices in ambulatory infectious diseases clinics (Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Clinic and Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy Clinic) and in the Multidisciplinary Orofacial Pain Clinic, both at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic.