Objectives The study aimed to collect and compare practising characteristics for dental hygienists (DHs) in New Zealand (NZ) and Sweden. Methods Dental hygienists from NZ and Sweden were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey focussing on their working practices. An email, with a link to the online survey and a participant information sheet, was sent to DHs registered with their professional association in their respective country. Frequency analyses and cross‐tabulations were conducted using chi‐square and Fisher's exact tests to investigate possible statistical associations to allow for comparisons between the countries. Results DH is a female‐dominated workforce with equal distribution of gender in both countries. The majority of DHs in NZ worked in private practice while Swedish DHs mostly worked in the public sector. NZ participants were younger and with a more recent qualification than their Swedish counterparts. The highest degree of education was a PhD for DHs working in Sweden, compared with a master's degree for NZ participants. The majority of participants from both countries treated patients 65 years of age or older, with the most common medical conditions being cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. The most common dental condition observed/treated was periodontal disease. Over 60% agreed to have an understanding of information technology (IT). The most used technical equipment was digital radiology, followed by other diagnostic tools. Conclusion Findings confirm previous international data on demographical uptake for the DH workforce in NZ and Sweden. A coherence was seen in patient characteristics, DHs’ attitudes towards information technology and use of technical equipment.
Introduction. In the health professional education literature, there is a need for information about the teaching and learning of medical laboratory sciences for clinical practice. The goal of this reflection-on-practice is to describe how an orofacial pathology interprofessional education (IPE) initiative was designed and implemented. Innovation. The designers of this initiative were teachers from dentistry, oral health, and medical laboratory science. The designers used six interprofessional competences (patient-centred care, role clarification, team functioning, collaborative leadership, communication, and cultural practice) to guide their construction of teaching and learning resources. The initiative required students to work collaboratively with a given patient case to develop a differential diagnosis, prepare a treatment plan, present their case to classmates and staff members, and describe how they worked together to address the orofacial pathology in their case. Evaluation. The designers collected and considered evaluation information including the learning resources used, logistical arrangements for the initiative, and student ratings about interprofessional competencies. Outcomes. In general, the designers felt that they had successfully designed and implemented an IPE initiative that met five of the six interprofessional competencies. The designers did not feel that the cultural practice competency was adequately addressed in this version of the initiative. What next? Given the acceptability of this initiative to the designers, facilitators, and students, the next step is to consider the feasibility of scaling-up this small voluntary IPE initiative into a permanent component of the dentistry,
In discussing the opportunities for development in the local space, one should not go astray in theoretical speculations since development springs from the hearts of the people and their societies. In this story, we follow a family on an old farm on the Baltic island of Gotland through four generations--from Jaken, born in 1866 to the great-great-grandchild, born in 1973. It is a story of silence between husband and wife, of bitterness and rape in marriage, of the woman's dread of a new pregnancy. But also of how life on the farm has changed with the new age, and of love and fellowship between the young, who bring their child into the world together. Hence it provides not only a moving account of hitherto little-known aspects of human life in the rural areas of Sweden over the last hundred years, but also a unique insight into the developments that have taken place on a deeply personal level during this period. Berit Larsson has been a district nurse and a midwife on the island of Gotland for more than 30 years. The story appears here as told by her to Hanna Olsson. It was rendered into English by Alan Blair. The illustrations are by a Gotland artist, Ingrid Hamrell-Mårtensson.
In response to reviewer feedback, the main change to this manuscript has been our inclusion and discussion of evaluation data from students. Students provided informed consent for the data to be collected and used for research purposes including publication. Ethical approval for analysing and publishing the results of the student evaluation data was granted by the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee.
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