Enhancing education for interprofessional oral health management of patients with special health care needs
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2016
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Melbourne Authors
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Melbourne Dental School
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PhD thesis
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© 2016 Dr. Mas Suryalis Ahmad
Abstract
Collaborative intervention is integral to ensuring comprehensive oral health management of patients with special health care needs (SHCN), as they experience a range of challenges in attaining satisfactory oral health, thus indicating the importance of educational preparation for future health professionals in this area. This study determined perception of dental, medical and nursing educators and students of current training programs in each respective area, and future implications for education and practice in interprofessional oral health management of patients with SHCN across Malaysia and Australia. A self-administered postal survey was conducted involving Heads of Dental Schools in Malaysia (n=6, Response rate=100%) and Australia (n=8, Response rate=88.9%), whilst semi-structured phone interviews were undertaken with medical (Malaysia, n=9, Response Rate=81.8%; Australia, n=7, Response rate=35%) and nursing (Malaysia, n=5, Response rate=71.4%; Australia, n=12, Response rate=33.3%) program directors in both countries. A paper-based questionnaire survey was also administered, classroom style, to final year dental (Malaysia, n=289, Response rate=98%), medical (Malaysia, n=527, Response rate=79.3%; Australia, n=455, Response rate: 60%) and nursing (Malaysia, n=122, Response rate= 97.6%; Australia, n=299, Response rate=54.7%) students. Qualitative data was analysed via deductive and inductive qualitative approaches, while quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science software (SPSS, Chi-squared logistic regression analysis, p≤0.01). The study found that teaching of Special Needs Dentistry (SND) was limited in Malaysia, while it was delivered as a compulsory component of all the undergraduate dental programs in Australia. Medical and nursing schools in both countries offered teaching of oral health-related areas, which was mostly integrated throughout the curriculum in the absence of structured learning objectives, clinical training and an assessment approach. Dental, medical and nursing educators and students in both countries supported the inclusion of SND, oral health and interprofessional education in each respective discipline. Malaysian dental students reported positive experiences in treating patients with SHCN. The majority of dental students had experience treating the elderly, and felt comfortable with managing these individuals. Meanwhile, many medical and nursing students across both countries reported encountering patients with oral health conditions and felt that they should advise patients to obtain regular dental check-ups and provide information about the impact of dietary habits on oral health, despite feeling that they did not receive good training in these areas. In addition, most medical and nursing students felt that they did not receive good training in detecting oral cancerous lesions, with more than half feeling uncomfortable in deciding appropriateness of a dental referral. The current quantity and quality of teaching, barriers to providing training in each respective area, relevance of some health-related topics over others as rated by educators and students provide important information for curriculum planning, and hence impact on development of educational programs that aim to prepare future health practitioners for interprofessional roles in oral health care that would benefit patients, especially those with SHCN.
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education dental, education medical, nursing, curriculum, teaching, learning