A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students
Objective: The silent epidemic of oral diseases disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, especially the elderly who have complex needs for healthcare. This study was to evaluate a pilot oral health interprofessional program that provided hands-on experiences for students across four dis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.602957/full |
| _version_ | 1818326758360875008 |
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| author | Maryam Tabrizi Wei-Chen Lee |
| author_facet | Maryam Tabrizi Wei-Chen Lee |
| author_sort | Maryam Tabrizi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective: The silent epidemic of oral diseases disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, especially the elderly who have complex needs for healthcare. This study was to evaluate a pilot oral health interprofessional program that provided hands-on experiences for students across four disciplines: dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy.Methods: The 8-weeks program was built on four pedagogical principles: care, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration coupled with the 4Ms model: what matters, medication, mentation, and mobility. The curriculum contained four scenarios of a dental complication in an elderly: Alzheimer's Disease, oral cancer, Parkinson's Disease, and stroke. A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate this pilot program.Results: The average score of knowledge and attitude has increased from 2.94 to 4.39 (p < 0.05) on a 5-point Likert scale. The qualitative responses also showed that students became more confident in practicing within the Age-Friendly health system.Discussion: By the end of the program, all students recognized the significance of the interprofessional program to improve their knowledge and skills to work with professionals across disciplines. Two key features that contributed to the success of the program were (1) an interprofessional education that increased students' awareness of other types of services and (2) four scenarios that allowed students to solve the case and gain hands-on experience.Conclusion: An interprofessional education may equip students with competence to address the health of geriatric patients. Materials used in this study could be shared and adapted to prepare learners for other scenarios that require interprofessional team practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T12:05:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f0216bf5c5664aeb95cc18be8269269c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T12:05:28Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-f0216bf5c5664aeb95cc18be8269269c2022-12-21T23:46:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652020-12-01810.3389/fpubh.2020.602957602957A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy StudentsMaryam Tabrizi0Wei-Chen Lee1General Practice and Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, United StatesOffice of Health Policy and Legislative Affairs, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United StatesObjective: The silent epidemic of oral diseases disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, especially the elderly who have complex needs for healthcare. This study was to evaluate a pilot oral health interprofessional program that provided hands-on experiences for students across four disciplines: dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy.Methods: The 8-weeks program was built on four pedagogical principles: care, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration coupled with the 4Ms model: what matters, medication, mentation, and mobility. The curriculum contained four scenarios of a dental complication in an elderly: Alzheimer's Disease, oral cancer, Parkinson's Disease, and stroke. A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate this pilot program.Results: The average score of knowledge and attitude has increased from 2.94 to 4.39 (p < 0.05) on a 5-point Likert scale. The qualitative responses also showed that students became more confident in practicing within the Age-Friendly health system.Discussion: By the end of the program, all students recognized the significance of the interprofessional program to improve their knowledge and skills to work with professionals across disciplines. Two key features that contributed to the success of the program were (1) an interprofessional education that increased students' awareness of other types of services and (2) four scenarios that allowed students to solve the case and gain hands-on experience.Conclusion: An interprofessional education may equip students with competence to address the health of geriatric patients. Materials used in this study could be shared and adapted to prepare learners for other scenarios that require interprofessional team practice.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.602957/fulloral healthinterprofessional educationcollaborationage-friendlypublic health |
| spellingShingle | Maryam Tabrizi Wei-Chen Lee A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students Frontiers in Public Health oral health interprofessional education collaboration age-friendly public health |
| title | A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students |
| title_full | A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students |
| title_fullStr | A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students |
| title_short | A Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Program Involving Dental, Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Students |
| title_sort | pilot study of an interprofessional program involving dental medical nursing and pharmacy students |
| topic | oral health interprofessional education collaboration age-friendly public health |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.602957/full |
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