DENTAL HYGIENE ONLINE DEGREE COMPLETION
COURSES
Offered through the IDEAL Program
COURSE SYLLABUS
Dear
Student,
Please read the following
course syllabus carefully, especially the course dates, times and location. If
you have any questions, please do not hesitate to communicate with the Dental
Hygiene department, your dental hygiene academic advisor, or the instructor.
The
BSDH degree completion program is designed with the adult learner in mind.
Adult learners approach learning with specific goals, want to be able to
directly apply new learning to their work and personal lives, and tend to learn
best when the coursework is problem-centered so that they are actively engaged
in the learning process. In addition, adults bring rich and varied experience
to the classroom, which becomes a valuable learning resource for other
students.
The BSDH Online Degree Completion Program
assumes joint responsibility in the learning process. The activities and assignments in our classes build
on the shared experience of all learners in each class. This is why each
student’s preparation, participation and interaction in class activities and
discussions are critical to the success of each course. The accelerated format
of each course requires a significant amount of time outside the classroom to
prepare for and complete the course assignments. This varies between students
and courses; however, students typically spend a minimum of ten-twelve hours
per week on course material.
To participate in the BSDH Online Degree
Completion Program, it is expected that you will do the following:
Have
questions about taking an online course?
“Instructions for Taking a UB Online Course”
If
you cannot perform these expectations, it is recommended that you drop the
course. If you do not participate
during the first week of the course, you will be dropped from the course.
An
integral component of the BSDH Online Degree Completion Program is student and
faculty expression of personal experiences for the purpose of facilitating
coursework. Students enrolled in the
program are expected to honor confidentiality as it pertains to student disclosure. Shared information, comments, or opinions
expressed by another student or the faculty member during the course of
classroom discussion should never be used in a manner which is intended to
humiliate, embarrass, harass, damage, or otherwise injure other students in
their personal, public, or business lives.
In addition, confidentiality must be upheld by not disclosing any
information that would identify any particular individual.
The
BSDH Online Degree Completion Program
Instructor: Mary Moran Boudreau, RDH, MBA
Email: mboudrea@bridgeport.edu
Tel: (860)688-7307
COURSE NAME:
DHYG 301 – PRACTICE MANAGEMENT FOR DENTAL
HYGIENE
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Practice Management for Dental Hygiene
will run for eight weeks from January 7 until February 29, 2008. It
is designed to enhance the ability of the student to provide optimum patient
care while functioning within an interdisciplinary dental team. This will be
accomplished through learning skills including communication, teamwork,
business and management practices, and patient management.
COURSE GOALS:
·
To
provide the dental hygiene student with the advanced skills to effectively
function as a member of the interdisciplinary dental team with emphasis on
optimum patient care.
·
To
provide the opportunity for the student to develop and write their own ideal
Practice Plan.
·
To provide the student with the information needed to
practice within the scope of legal, regulatory, professional and ethical
issues.
·
To
assist the student in understanding the principles of teamwork and
communications.
·
To
present the role of technology in the dental hygiene and dental practice.
·
To
work with the students to understand the contents and functioning of financial
considerations in a practice.
·
To
understand the varied opportunities for employment within the six roles of the
dental hygienist.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
1.
Develop a Dental Hygiene Practice Plan;
2.
Write effective Mission, goals and objectives;
3.
Explain the legal and regulatory issues that effect clinical practice;
4.
Integrate professional and ethical issues into a Practice Plan;
5.
Develop a Quality Assurance plan;
6.
Develop a plan for effective communication;
7.
Write clear job descriptions;
8.
Discuss the access to care issues in oral health care;
9.
Demonstrate good management of patient scheduling;
10.
Practice identifying patient needs and non-verbal clues;
11.
Devise a plan for effective use of technology in the dental practice;
12.
Assess a practice including supplies, wages, other expenses and income;
13.
Establish a budget;
14.
Explore employment opportunities.
COURSE ORGANIZATION AND SCHEDULE:
In the "Lecture"
section, you will see each week has a broad subject which will be broken down to
include specific topics to accomplish the objectives of the course. Individual
lectures may include attachments or links for additional information for your
learning. Assignments will appear at the end of the lectures. All assignments
except for the Practice Plan will be due during the week it is assigned.
The subjects covered in the eight
weeks are:
Week 1 - Practice Management and a Practice Plan
Week 2 - Legal and Regulatory Issues
Week 3 - Professional and Ethical Issues
Week 4 - Communications and Teamwork
Week 5 - Patient Management
Week 6 - Technology
Week 7 - Financial Planning
Week 8 – Final and Semester Project
TEXTBOOK:
Required Textbook: Ethics, Jurisprudence and
Practice Management in Dental Hygiene, Second Edition by Vickie J.
Kimbrough, RDH, MBA and Charla J. Lautar,
RDH, PhD., 2007, Prentice Hall. Supplemental readings will be posted in
the Module folders.
COURSE SCHEDULE AND REQUIREMENTS:
During
each Lesson, you must complete all of the Assignments. Assignments
include weekly assignments, class participation through responses to Discussion
Threads, case studies, a resume and cover letters and a Practice
Plan. Assignments written on a word processing program such as
Microsoft Word, should be saved as a "rich text format" (.rtf) rather
than as a "document" (.doc). This will facilitate other
students being able to read your assignments.
Weekly
assignments are only available during that specific week where the topics are
introduced. They are due during the assigned week. Late assignments will be
read but not included in grading.
Weekly
assignments will support the preparation of the Practice Plan as well as let me
know you understand the materials. Discussion Threads will be appropriately
marked as a requirement or encouraged (but not required). Throughout the
semester, you will be preparing a Practice Plan for Dental Hygiene. Most parts
of the Practice Plan will be first presented as weekly assignments. At the end
of the semester, you will present your entire Practice Plan.
You will need
between 6 -12 hours a week on the course, reading, researching, thinking,
writing, preparing materials and discussing your ideas with others.
GRADING
A Grade of C or higher is required
to pass this course. Any student who receives a C- or lower as a final
grade must repeat the course.
Plagarism
is not tolerated. All quotes or copied material must be properly
cited. Locating plagarism websites will be used
by the professor. If plagarism is found, the
student will receive an F for the assignment and will be reported to the
university.
GRADE DISTRIBUTION:
Weekly
assignments................ 27%
Case Studies.............................. 30%
Class participation.................... 18%
DH Practice Plan....................... 25%
INTERACTION PLAN:
Interaction between the Instructor and Student:
I will present lectures and other
resource materials for you to read each week. You will submit assignments as
stated in each section by e-mail or Discussion Board. All case study exams will
be sent to me by e-mail. At the end of the semester, you will present your
entire Practice Plan as an attachment on an e-mail.
You can follow your
progress by clicking on "Gradebook" in the
course. I will update the gradebook twice a
week.
If questions
arise, please contact me by e-mail and I will answer your question. If it is
something you need to discuss on the telephone, I can be available most
mornings and possibly at other times, if necessary. Please notify me by e-mail
that you would like to set up a time for a phone call and state the reason for
the call.
I will respond to
all correspondence within 48 hours during the week and 72 hours on messages
sent on Fridays or Saturdays.
Interaction between students:
Some assignments will direct you to the
"Discussion Board". The follow up discussions between students
will be your Class Participation grade. Discussion threads should be
used to learn from each other and give support. The Class Participation
grade requires at least three (3) responses to each topic on the
Discussion Board (not three to each student's responses). Responses to classmates assignments should be complete with reasons why
you agree or disagree with their statements, helpful criticism and should be
stated in a positive manner. A response similar to "That looks
good" is not acceptable unless followed by an explanation of what looks
good about it. You will receive credit for responses only if they are
complete and helpful to the recepient.
INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mary Moran Boudreau RDH MBA
E-mail: mboudrea@bridgeport.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
, Most weekdays - 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Telephone: (860) 688-7307
Fax: (860) 688-5188
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHY
Mary
Moran Boudreau, RDH, MBA has instructed this on line course for four previous
years. She also has provided this course on campus for five years.
Her background is over 30 years in dental hygiene. She received her
Associates degree in Dental Hygiene, her Bachelor's degree in Education and
Master in Business Administration from the University of
Bridgeport. After 15 years of full-time
clinical practice, Mary started to diversify her career within dental
hygiene. She has held positions in four roles of the dental
hygienist: clinical, educator, advocate and
administrator. She is presently the Executive Director of the
Connecticut Dental Hygienists’ Association besides being adjunct faculty at the
University
of Bridgeport. She has been employed by Scherer
Laboratories, Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals, RDH Temps, Inc. and OraPharma, Inc.
Ms. Boudreau is
very active in the dental hygiene profession. She is a past president of the
Connecticut Dental Hygienists' Association (CDHA) and the Hartford Dental
Hygienists' Association as well as holding many other positions in those
associations and the American Dental Hygienists' Association. In her role
as CDHA Legislative Chair, she was instrumental in passing the legislation this
past year for dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia. Mary is
the recipient of the CDHA Mabel C. McCarthy Award and CDHA President's
Award. She is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Phi Alpha
Honor Societies.