Earn your certificate in Orofacial Pain

All students must view each lecture from start to finish. There are typically 8-12 lectures per trimester. The student can view the lecture and take the in-lecture quiz in there own time.

Weekly Post-lecture quiz scores: The students must also take and pass the post-lecture-associated short multiple-choice quiz (5-10 questions) on a timely basis (no more than 2 weeks after the lecture is posted). Although the student may take the quiz twice (typically to see what they did wrong) the only score that counts however is the score from the first attempt. Advance notice for any absence is required unless an unexpected severe illness or related serious event precludes such advance planning or notification. If an emergency develops, the designated course director should be notified by phone, text or email before the session. In some cases, at the discretion of the course director, a lecture make up may be offered at the discretion of the course director.

This course has a required portfolio building homework assignment. The student will have until the end of each module to prepare and upload their two cases, but they cannot pass the course until these cases are approved by the course director. The student must prepare a short presentation.

The project will involve the student finding and preparing two exemplar cases with a disorder relevant to the course module (e.g. Temporomandibular Disorders, Orofacial Pain or Headaches). T The case must be based on at least two patients that were seen by the student in their office or on an arranged visit to a pain clinic.

The reason for two cases is that the cases will be a composite of fully de-identified patient data. Thus, it does not link back to a single patient. It will be a composite case and contain no full face photos, no names on x-rays, no names on any report generated for a patient.

The case presentation should explain the basis for the diagnosis and treatment and give some background on the mechanism of the underlying disease. Both cases from these homework assignments must be uploaded into the course file exchange folder in Blackboard by the assigned due date.

Turning in a homework assignment after this date/time will result in a zero grade for the homework and is unacceptable and may be grounds for a failing grade in the course. The two cases submitted in this course will become part of the portfolio each student must submit and defend in the last trimester of their certificate program. The final portfolio will have six cases in total, or two from each of the three courses in this certificate program.

All students must attend from beginning to end each video conference (there are usually 8/12 sessions per trimester). Attendance is required even if a student is not scheduled to “present” a case and they must log in and have their camera turned on during the conference. If a student does not participate (i.e. ask a question during the various case presentations) they may be asked a question during the presentation and their response will be figured into the attendance score which will be scored for each session.

All sessions missed without a legitimate medical or a program director’s approve excuse must be made up (see below). Advance notice for any absence is required unless an unexpected severe illness or related serious event precludes such advance planning or notification. Missing a video conference means the designated course director should be notified by phone, text or email before the session. The session make up assignment is most likely to be an additional homework assignment and audio-recorded case presentation.

Assigned Case Answers: On an every assigned week each student will write-up and submit and orally present their individually assigned case. The write up of their assigned case means they must write a detailed answer to the case related questions. The questions involve some basic repeated question like what is your diagnosis, what is your treatment, etc., and some focused individual questions relevant to the unique aspects of the patient case. Students must also document the literature citation or other sources they used to write generate their answers. This Case Answers file must be uploaded to the file exchange folder in blackboard by the noon deadline on the Sunday before the weekly video conference. The presentations are scored and go toward the final result.

The final exam will usually contain 50-100 multiple-choice questions (MCQ) derived directly from the weekly lectures and course manual. Moreover, using Zoom and a webcam we can remotely proctor the students taking the final exam. If this is logistically problematic we have the option of using a remote examination proctoring software program. The exams will have to be scheduled at a fixed time and proctored (1 hour)