Interprofessional Education in U.S. Dental Hygiene Programs: A National Survey

Abstract

Although there are many beneits of interprofessional health care, no previous research has sought to deine the status of interprofessional education (IPE) in U.S. dental hygiene programs. The aims of this study were to assess how these programs engage in IPE, the challenges they encounter, and the value they place on IPE. Additionally, the study explored how program characteristics are related to IPE. Data were collected with a web-based survey sent to all 322 U.S. dental hygiene program directors (response rate: 33% of the 305 successfully contacted). The majority of the responding programs were located at institutions with nursing (90%) and other allied health programs (85%). They were likely to collaborate with nursing (50%), other allied health (44%), and dental assisting programs (41%), but were less likely to collaborate with dental schools (28%). IPE was most likely to occur in volunteer activities (68%), basic science courses (65%), and communication training/behavioral science courses (63%/59%). The most frequently reported challenges for IPE were schedule coordination (92%) and curriculum overload (76%). The majority of the respondents agreed that IPE was a priority for the dental hygiene profession in the U.S. (59%) and for the program directors personally (56%). Programs granting bachelor degrees were more likely to have IPE as a priority than programs that did not grant such degrees (scale of 1-5 with 5=most important: 3.81 vs. 2.88; p<0.01). The longer the students spent in the programs, the more those programs engaged in IPE (r=0.21; p<0.05).

Exploring the role of the dental hygienist in reducing oral health disparities in Canada: A qualitative study

“…Theile and colleagues identified how dental hygienists can embrace their role in interprofessional practice, not only through traditional practice settings, but also by contributing to oral‐systemic health research and facilitating implementation science; all of which would require knowledge of different delivery settings. Although frameworks to implement an interprofessional curriculum for medical, nursing, and dental students exist, given the separation of dental and health care in Canada—in terms of organization, financing, and delivery—there may be little drive for professions to establish shared learning environments…”

Interprofessional Education in U.S. Dental Hygiene Programs: Program Director Responses Before and After Introduction of CODA Standard 2–15

“…The investigators of the 2014 study made two revisions to the original dental school survey. They changed the program characteristics questions to be appropriate for dental hygiene program directors, and they replaced the IPE‐related predoctoral dental CODA standard numbers in the dental school survey with the dental hygiene CODA standards that were indirectly relevant to IPE 21 . In the 2017 study, we made one change to the dental hygiene survey used in 2014.…”

“…In consideration of this situation, it was not surprising that the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) Accreditation Standards for Dental Hygiene Education Programs revised Standard 2–15 in August 2016 to explicitly include IPE. This standard now states that “Graduates must be competent in communicating and collaborating with other members of the health care team to support comprehensive patient care.” 20 Furgeson et al surveyed dental hygiene program directors regarding their IPE‐related efforts and attitudes in 2014, when only implicit references to IPE were made in the CODA standards, 21 but no prior study has assessed whether educational efforts and attitudes changed as a consequence of the CODA standard changes in August 2016.…”

“…In this context, it would also be beneficial to explore how the implementation of IPE challenges dental hygiene programs. Potential difficulties such as coordinating schedules, identifying the appropriate location and times in curricula, acquiring adequate institutional support, and overcoming cultural challenges of individual disciplines must all be carefully considered 21 . Dental hygiene education is most frequently delivered in two‐year programs, with few opportunities for intra‐ or interprofessional education due to already crowded curricula 13 , 14 .…”

Interprofessional education in dentistry

“…The logistics of then trying to introduce IPE, for often a large number of students with complex curriculum timetables can be challenging, particularly if not all staff appreciate the value of IPE. It has been found that schedule coordination (92%) and curriculum overload (76%) were issues when implementing IPE within a dental hygiene curriculm 15 and that support from educational leaders and administrators is essential 7 . There is also thought that pre-registration students should be focussing on developing their uniprofessional skills and professional identity prior to learning collaboratively as part of IPE.…”