Dental Sedation Nursing
Conscious Sedation is a vital part of modern dentistry enabling a huge number of patients with anxieties and phobias to access care they otherwise could not tolerate. In the UK this involves the administration of sedative drugs which patients may take orally, inhale or have injected. As well as removing anxiety these drugs can have many significant side effects which the dental team must be able to recognise and manage in a calm and effective way.
What does the course include?
Record of Competence (RoC)
This RoC is designed to demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills during sedation procedures as outlined in the syllabus for the Certificate in Dental Sedation Nursing. Once completed it will provide you with a portfolio of evidence, relevant to your area of practice, to demonstrate your competence in these procedures.
Qualifications available:
Certificate in Dental Sedation Nursing (DSN)
This is the traditional full qualification allowing dental nurses to work with all types of sedation commonly used in practice. You will need to be able to gain significant experience in both inhalation and intravenous sedation.
Award in Inhalation Sedation Dental Nursing (IHSN)
This qualification will allow dental nurses to work with patients undergoing treatment with inhalation sedation. You will need to be able to gain significant experience in inhalation sedation
Award in Intravenous Sedation Dental Nursing (IVSN)
This qualification will allow dental nurses to work with patients undergoing treatment with intravenous sedation. You will need to be able to gain significant experience in intravenous sedation.
Should a learner be successful in one of the awards and then find themselves able to meet the remaining aspects of the RoC within 5 years, they will be able to submit this evidence to NEBDN for consideration for the Certificate in Dental Sedation Nursing. No further teaching or examination would be needed but they will need the support of an accredited centre to administrate this process.
The Record of Competence is in four parts:
- Part A: Practical Competence Assessment Sheets (PCAS)
- Part B: Expanded Case Studies
- Part C: Directly Observed Clinical Skills Assessments (DOCS)
- Part D: Supplementary Outcomes (SO)
When registering for the qualification, the learner must have access to carry out practical skills relating to the specified sedation technique. Once registered there can be no amendments to the registration.
The first 6 months of the course is focused on completion of the RoC to enable the learner to sit the exam when planned. Please note, failure to complete the RoC will result in the course requiring to be extended which will incur a defer fee.
It is a requirement of the Standards for Conscious Sedation 2015 for learners assisting with conscious sedation in practice to complete the Immediate Life Support (ILS) course. The ILS course is not included within this qualification.
The RoC compromises of the following:
- Practical Competence Assessment Sheets (PCAS): There are treatment and recovery PCAS that are required to be completed for each patient. If a learner is completing intravenous (IV) sedation there are 20 treatment PCAS and 5 recovery PCAS. If a learner is completing inhalation (IHS)
sedation there are 10 treatment PCAS and 5 recovery. - Case study / Case studies: Learners are expected to carry out a case study of their chosen patient journey to showcase their underpinning knowledge and understanding relating to the skills they have gained through practical training in practice.
- Documents (DOCS): For each of the patient seen for PCAS there is a linked document relating to related duties carried out during the procedure itself.
- Supplementary outcomes: The supplementary outcomes include a range of evidence for the learner to provide from the workplace as well as some knowledge based assessments.
Learners will be provided with a deadline to complete the RoC although this is always 3-4 months prior to sitting the exam. Upon completion of the RoC this will go through an internal quality assurance process before being submitted to the NEBDN in preparation for the exam being booked.
Learners are provided with a number of different resources for learning material. Learners are expected to carry out learning each week making their way through the materials provided with a calendar of dates to follow. The learning material provided is evidence based material which covers topics set out in the NEBDN syllabus and provides underpinning knowledge and understanding to help support practical skills along with preparation for the examination.
Mock exams are provided upon completion of the RoC and once learning from other material has been carried out. Mock exams help prepare further for revision for the examination.
Approximately 1 month prior to the expected examination date the Tutor will arrange oral mock exams.These oral mocks will include random testing across the syllabus. Although this sounds daunting, this is a varied form of revision with excellent feedback from previous learners who have gone on to successfully pass the examination.
About the Examination
This is a 90-minute written examination composed of two sections:
- Part A – 45 multiple choice questions (MCQ)
- Part B – 30 extended matching questions (EMQ)
Examinations are held twice a year in March and September.
Award of qualification
In order to be awarded this qualification, you must:
- Complete and satisfy the requirements of the RoC
- Pass the examination
Examination date
The examination date is published on the NEBDN website although examinations are held twice per year every March and every September. Please note, the timing of the exam will only be published nearer the time of the exam and you will be notified directly from the NEBDN. The NEBDN also reserve the right to make amendments to the exam date although you will be notified in good time.
Please click here to visit the NEBDN website where the exam dates are published at the bottom of the page.
Tutor information
Our main Sedation Nursing Tutor at Dentrain Professionals Ltd is Michelle Porter and Zoe Gee is our Internal Moderator. Michelle has been a qualified Dental Nurse for over 17 years and qualified as a Sedation Nurse in 2010. She started to tutor this course in 2015 and enjoys helping to support students in achieving their goals with continuously high success rates.
Tutor support is available from 9am - 9pm 7 days a week with contact available via email, telephone, text or WhatsApp.
The Sedation Nursing course is a remotely delivered course which is learner lead and whilst completing the Record of Competence (RoC) the learner is expected to record their progress on the online portfolio PebblePad in line with practical skills being gained in practice. The tutor is available to provide support and guidance throughout.
How much does the course cost?
The cost of the course is £900.
Please note, if candidates do not live on UK mainland, there will be a £25 surcharge to cover postage costs.
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Other useful contacts
We have a range of contacts available to support your needs at Dentrain. Please see below for further information.
Safeguarding Lead Complaints Officer
Zoe Gee
Mob: 07809 398984
Email:
Safeguarding Officer
Careers Education Advice Guidance Officer
Qualification Lead
Michelle Porter
Mob: 07703 679184
Email:
Office: 01204 528652
Dentrain Professionals Ltd, Bridge Place, Rear of 22 Bridge Street, Bolton BL1 2EA