Public Oral Health Digital Badges
Are you interested in learning more about dental public health, public policy and community perspectives, or even workforce wellbeing and belonging? If yes, then we invite you to enroll in a brand new VCU School of Dentistry learning opportunity, our digital badging offerings in Public Oral Health. As the Commonwealth’s dental school, this new offering answers an increased demand for training in public oral health and oral health cultural humility/competency. Potential enrollees would be both internal and external to VCU and the dental education community including:
- Dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants
- Safety-net dental clinic leadership and teams
- Pre-dental and pre-public health students
- Dental and dental hygiene students
- Community health workers
- Public health students and more
Learn more, register and enroll in any course, or all three, below:
Course Description
The completion of this course will result in a digital badge in Public Oral Health: Dental Public Health & Oral Health Disparities. The course consists of six modules which provide participants with the knowledge, comprehension, and application of Dental Public Health concepts. This course is applicable to health professionals, community health workers and administrators, and individuals pursuing careers in dentistry and oral health. Topics consist of: oral health surveillance, oral health disparities, health equity, public policy development, the role of publicly funded dental programs (Medicaid/SCHIP), social determinants of health, and community oral health prevention.
Course Outcomes
- Describe the core functions of public health and 10 essential services of public health.
- Define Dental Public Health concepts and differences between roles of private and public health practitioners.
- Identify public health agencies interfacing with oral health and the dental professions.
- Differentiate access issues central to dental care.
- Define the surveillance of oral health disparities.
- Examine how the social determinants of health affect access to dental care and health outcomes.
Course Description
The completion of this course will result in a digital badge in Oral Health Equity & Community. The course consists of six modules which provide participants with the knowledge, comprehension, and application of oral health equity, policy and program development and community engagement concepts. This course is applicable to health professionals, community health workers and administrators, and individuals pursuing careers in dentistry and oral health. Topics consist of: health and oral health equity, public policy development, program development, and community engagement.
Course Outcomes
- Describe health and oral health equity.
- Recognize what informs public health policy and the role of justice.
- Apply water equity as a case example of public policy and community engagement.
- Define community engagement.
- Identify community perspectives and linkages (disconnects) to oral health programs and practice.
The completion of this course will result in a digital badge in Public Oral Health: Oral Health Workforce Wellbeing and Belonging. The course consists of six modules which provide participants with the knowledge, comprehension, and application of Belonging and Oral Health Workforce Wellbeing. This course is applicable to health professionals, community health workers and administrators, and individuals pursuing careers in dentistry and oral health. This course aims to deepen students' knowledge of how belonging relates to the field of healthcare. It will give a general overview of how these ideas affect both individual and community health, as well as how healthcare professionals can help cultivate a positive impact on outcomes. We will consider diversity in its broadest meaning. However, our focus will be exploring diversity in culture, race, ethnicity, gender, ability, socioeconomics, and sexual orientation. During this exploration, capacity to promote workforce wellbeing will be presented. A focus on ethics and professionalism, as inextricably linked to belonging and ideal patient and oral health team member outcomes, will be centered throughout. The goals of this course are to increase our appreciation of and advocacy for belonging in health care.
- Differentiate the concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice, and wellbeing as they relate to ethical professional practice.
- Explain the individual, interpersonal, and institutional roles of mitigating ethical issues of equity, inclusion, and wellbeing.
- Discuss how health care professionals identify and overcome their own cultural assumptions, biases, and values that may interfere with their ability to act objectively.
- Recognize the correlation between historic ethical lapses and present day health disparities and inequities.
- Define the concepts of ethics and professionalism.
- Examine various ethical decision making models with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice.