Prescribing is a complex task requiring a wide range of skills, from information gathering and risk management, knowledge of pharmacology and therapeutics, clinical decision-making, to communication and cooperation with others in the team and understanding the commercial, regulatory and legal requirements.
Despite dentists being the second largest prescriber group in Australia, most dentists report having little or no formal education on how to prescribe. It tends to be a skill picked up ‘on the fly’ under the tutelage of senior staff in a workplace. This not a safe way to learn such an important and potentially dangerous skill, especially considering the high-risk medicines dentists can prescribe.
This one-day seminar will provide a structured overview of the foundation skills required to be a competent and safe prescriber in contemporary health care. Particular attention will be paid to the cognitive steps leading up to the act of prescribing including medication history-taking.
Topics focus on high-risk situations such as the very young, older people, pregnancy, and breastfeeding and ‘polypharmacy’. Complex medical patients with comorbidities such as cardiovascular and autoimmune disease, kidney and liver impairment will also be discussed. Case studies will address error-prone situations such as dose calculations, look-alike-sound-alike drugs, drug interactions, unsafe abbreviations, and prescribing under time constraints, focussing on prevention of prescribing errors and patient safety.
Learning outcomes
Prescribing is a complex task requiring a wide range of skills, from information gathering and risk management, knowledge of pharmacology and therapeutics, clinical decision-making, to communication and cooperation with others in the team and understanding the commercial, regulatory and legal requirements.
Despite dentists being the second largest prescriber group in Australia, most dentists report having little or no formal education on how to prescribe. It tends to be a skill picked up ‘on the fly’ under the tutelage of senior staff in a workplace. This not a safe way to learn such an important and potentially dangerous skill, especially considering the high-risk medicines dentists can prescribe.
This one-day seminar will provide a structured overview of the foundation skills required to be a competent and safe prescriber in contemporary health care. Particular attention will be paid to the cognitive steps leading up to the act of prescribing including medication history-taking.
Topics focus on high-risk situations such as the very young, older people, pregnancy, and breastfeeding and ‘polypharmacy’. Complex medical patients with comorbidities such as cardiovascular and autoimmune disease, kidney and liver impairment will also be discussed. Case studies will address error-prone situations such as dose calculations, look-alike-sound-alike drugs, drug interactions, unsafe abbreviations, and prescribing under time constraints, focussing on prevention of prescribing errors and patient safety.
Further information
Pharmacology & Dental Prescribing
Speakers
Associate Professor Geraldine Moses
Geraldine Moses is a Doctor of Clinical Pharmacy specialising in drug information.
As well as providing a national drug information advisory service called “Pharma-Advice” for members of the Australian Dental Association, Geraldine also works part-time in the Academic Practice Unit of the Mater Public Hospital in Brisbane and is Adjunct Associate Professor in the Schools of Pharmacy at University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology. She also consults to organisations such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, NPS MedicineWise, the Commission for Safety in Quality in Health Care and the New Zealand Dental Association.
A well-known educator and speaker, Geraldine has received many awards including in 2002 she was named Australian Pharmacist of the Year, in 2013 she received ADAQ’s Medal of Merit, and in 2019 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for for services to health care as a pharmacist.
Associate Professor Geraldine Moses
Dr Leanne Teoh
Dr Leanne Teoh is a dentist and pharmacist, lecturer of dental therapeutics and an early career researcher at the University of Melbourne. Her research focus is on various aspects of medicine use in dentistry and dental prescribing practices. She co-authored the Therapeutic Guidelines Oral and Dental Version 2, is on the editorial board for the journal BMC Oral Health, and is a member of the Australian Dental Association Therapeutics Committee.
As an invited speaker, Leanne has presented both locally and internationally in various forums, including the Therapeutic Goods Administration, FDI World Dental Federation and International Association for Dental Research.
Leanne has received several awards and scholarships, including the Rowden White Scholarship, International College of Dentists Community Oral Health Award for 2018, and the Ernest Joske Award in 2020 at Melbourne Dental School for research impact and publications. She is a founding member of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Dental Network for the World Dental Federation.
Dr Leanne Teoh
