BSc (Hons) Enhanced Dental Nursing Practice

Program Overview

The BSc in Enhanced Dental Nursing Practice is a four-year part-time program that provides both academic and clinical training to enable dental nurses to advance their careers within dentistry and other healthcare settings. The program is delivered in partnership with Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons. Upon completion, graduates will be able to practice as a dental nurse with enhanced skills in their chosen area of specialization, such as implant nursing, sedation nursing, or special care nursing in dentistry.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The BSc in Enhanced Dental Nursing Practice is a part-time, four-year program delivered in partnership with Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust. It aims to provide both academic and clinical training to enable dental nurses to advance their careers within dentistry and other healthcare settings.

Objectives:

• Develop academic and clinical skills to enable dental nurses to pursue various career paths within dentistry and other healthcare provisions.
• Equip graduates to become enhanced practitioners with specialized skills such as oral health education and promotion, research, and leadership.
• Nurture personal development and transferable skills to enhance adaptability and autonomous work capabilities.
• Prepare graduates for a wide range of healthcare employment opportunities.

Outline:

The program is structured to enhance the learner's skills and knowledge within a dental clinical environment, starting with fundamental skills in reflective practice, oral health, and restorative dentistry.

Year 1 (Level 4 - 120 Credits):

• Core Modules:
• Reflective Practice and Professional Behaviours (40 Credits):
Develops skills and supports the student to become a reflective practitioner. Focuses on using reflection to identify areas for personal and professional development and how this can enhance knowledge, skills, and understanding. Emphasizes the central role of reflective practice in delivering excellent patient care.
• Oral Health Education (40 Credits): Covers the process of disseminating oral health knowledge to patients/clients from diverse backgrounds and communities.
Develops the student's knowledge surrounding oral care and promoting oral health.
• Restorative Practice (40 Credits): Provides the Dental Nurse with the foundation needed to develop the knowledge, skills, and understanding required to take patients' dental records.
Focuses on practical skills such as photography, impression taking, and intra-oral scanning. Enables the Dental Nurse to develop skills to provide effective service to patients/clients.

Year 2 (Level 5 - 60 Credits):

• Core Modules:
• Research Methods in Context in Dentistry (20 Credits):
Supports students to evaluate the impact of research in context and its role in providing excellence in dental nursing care and delivery. Develops the student's intellectual abilities to understand how research informs practice and service development. Provides students with skills and knowledge surrounding understanding what best evidence is and the tools to use appropriate strategies.
• Quality & Governance in Dentistry (20 Credits): Equips students with the skills and knowledge required to understand and implement a quality service.
Focuses on how patient care quality improvements can be made through upholding effective clinical governance. Students are equipped with the knowledge and practical skills to assess, investigate, and grade incidents to improve care within the clinical environment.
• Optional Modules (20 Credits):
• Conscious Sedation Nursing in Dentistry:
Provides students with the knowledge, skills, and experience to support the use of conscious sedation within the dental setting. Develops and enhances skills surrounding advanced sedation techniques, drugs used, and practical skills including the management of complications. Enhances knowledge and intellectual skills to support patients with anxiety and phobias when receiving dental treatment. Students understand the assessment process for undertaking conscious sedation and are aware of contraindications. Students are equipped with the skills to recognize and manage the clinical environment to promote a positive experience and support patients and clients.
• Health Psychology in Dentistry: Explores the psychological and behavioral processes that influence the delivery of oral health care, such as aspects of communication, the impact of anxiety, psychological management techniques, and how to influence patients' behavior.
• Implant Nursing in Dentistry: Supports students to develop the essential skills required to effectively support clinicians in implant dentistry.
Provides an in-depth understanding of effective working methods/techniques, such as four-handed dentistry, aseptic techniques, implant components, and different types of implant provisions and prostheses to provide effective and safe clinical care. Students gain knowledge and clinical skills relevant to patients with complex, diverse, and additional needs and understand the requirements needed to adapt their treatment.

Year 3 (Level 5 - 60 Credits):

• Core Modules:
• Leadership and Management (20 Credits):
Provides students with skills and knowledge required to understand the difference between leadership and management. Focuses on different leadership styles and how leadership style impacts others. Develops skills in coaching and mentoring to support teams and enhance the student's professional development.
• Oral Cancer (20 Credits): Provides students with a critical understanding of signs and symptoms of oral cancer.
Enhances communication skills and implements appropriate strategies to support patients throughout their diagnosis and treatment journey. Enhances skills to provide oral hygiene and general oral health advice to those in surgical recovery, with treatment side effects, or with prosthetic appliances.
• Optional Modules (20 Credits):
• Radiography Nursing in Dentistry:
Upon successful completion, the student will be qualified to work as an operator under IR(ME)R, having received a prescription from a dentist to take patients' intra- and extra-oral radiographs safely. The enhanced skills and information acquired will benefit patients and employers, improving efficiency and care delivery.
• Health Psychology in Dentistry: Explores the psychological and behavioral processes that influence the delivery of oral health care, such as aspects of communication, the impact of anxiety, psychological management techniques, and how to influence patients' behavior.
• Implant Nursing in Dentistry: Supports students to develop the essential skills required to effectively support clinicians in implant dentistry.
Provides an in-depth understanding of effective working methods/techniques, such as four-handed dentistry, aseptic techniques, implant components, and different types of implant provisions and prostheses to provide effective and safe clinical care. Students gain knowledge and clinical skills relevant to patients with complex, diverse, and additional needs and understand the requirements needed to adapt their treatment.

Year 4 (Level 6 - 120 Credits):

• Core Modules:
• Research and Evidenced Based Practice in Dentistry (40 Credits):
Enhances existing knowledge and understanding of the importance of research in dentistry and dental nursing practice. Focuses on how research can be integrated into service delivery and provides a foundation for promoting good research practices. Further develops students' understanding of key principles in research and prepares students to undertake research proposals.
• Change Management in Dentistry (40 Credits): Provides the Dental Nurse with skills and knowledge required to undertake change management in their departments.
Understands what change management is and how it fits into organizational change.

Teaching:

The course is taught using a variety of methods, including:

• Lectures
• Group work
• Tutorials
• Workshops
• Practical sessions
• Virtual learning
The program utilizes the clinical dental environment, specialist laboratories, and radiology department. Independent study is a significant component of the course, with some modules requiring students to undertake independent learning activities. This supports the development of reflective practice, independent project work, and independent research skills required for degree-level learning.

Careers:

Upon completion, graduates will be able to practice as a dental nurse with enhanced skills in their chosen area of specialization, such as implant nursing, sedation nursing, or special care nursing in dentistry. They will also be able to pursue leadership and management roles, supporting clinical areas or leading practices to support staff and patients. Other career paths include research or infection control, where graduates can evaluate, teach, audit, and implement changes in dentistry.

Other:

• The program is accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons in line with IASCD National guidelines.
• It complies with the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 (IR(ME)R) and Ionising Radiation Regulations (IRR) 2017.
• The partner trust for the program is Guys and St Thomas NHS Trust.
• Students applying should already be working in a hospital, community, or dental practice with access to a variety of patients.