Dental hygiene and dental students' motivations for future work: a cross-sectional study of first-year students at a dental hygiene school and a dental school in Japan

BACKGROUND

It is important to understand the career motivations and perceptions of students who intend to become dental health professionals. Both dental and dental hygiene students may have different opinions about the profession and future work prospects. To our knowledge, no study has compared the career motivations and career perceptions of Japanese dental and dental hygiene students after admission to dental or dental hygiene school. This cross-sectional study examined the motivations of dental and dental hygiene students for their future career perceptions.  METHODS: First-year students of dental and dental hygiene schools in the academic years 2021 and 2022 participated in the study. Group 1 comprised 104 female dental hygiene students, Group 2-1 comprised 55 female dental students, and Group 2-2 comprised 61 male dental students. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on opinions of the work and prospects of future work with four-point Likert scales ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree," according to the items.

RESULTS

Dental hygiene students consider that they would like to work as professionals and would also like to earn efficiently. Specifically, female dental students prioritized contributing to society by working long-term in a fulfilling environment rather than earning an income, whereas male dental students would like to work as a professional while also effectively earning income.

CONCLUSIONS

Small but significant differences were found in opinions of the dental hygienist/dentist profession in terms of attractiveness and credibility. Small but significant differences were found for income and working hours when considering future job prospects. The results of this study revealed differences in the first year students between dental and dental hygiene school in their attitudes toward career motivation and prospects for future work.

Assessment of medical practitioners' knowledge about paediatric oral diagnosis and gaze patterns using eye tracking technology

BACKGROUND

Most studies regarding the oral health knowledge of medical practitioners are based on surveys.

AIM

To assess medical practitioners' knowledge in diagnosing and managing children oral health issues using eye tracking technology.

DESIGN

Forty-one medical practitioners completed a cross-sectional survey questionnaire and subsequently viewed 5 clinical images of children's oral cavities to indicate the issues observed and their management. Tobii eye tracking device captured each participant's visual search behaviours and mean length of fixation (LOF) for each area of interest (AOI). Participant self-reported confidence in examining the oral cavity, and qualification level was recorded for data analysis.

RESULTS

No correlation between time spent viewing the soft tissues and self-reported confidence examining the oral cavity was observed (P = .25). Self-reported confidence in examining the oral cavity was not associated with a correct diagnosis. LOF on the decayed teeth was significantly associated with a correct diagnosis of 'caries' (P < .05), and paediatric training was associated with a correct diagnosis of dental caries (P < .05).

CONCLUSION

Medical practitioners' diagnosis and management were poorly correlated with their objective visual search behaviours of the intraoral images. Self-reported confidence in examining and managing oral issues was not correlated with a correct diagnosis, with the majority not confident of examining children oral cavity.

Oral health is Essential to the Well-Being of Older People

Although the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right, oral health is often not considered an important component of overall health. Older people experience poorer quality of life due to discomfort and uncleanliness of their mouth and there continue to be barriers within health systems that contribute to this poor oral health. This paper advocates for oral health to be considered part of the basic human right to good health care and discusses how stakeholders can collaborate and work together to begin to meet the needs of this population, proposing solutions and recommendations to bring about change.

Interprofessional education between dentistry and pharmacy students: delivery, barriers and facilitating implementation

Interprofessional education (IPE) between dentistry and pharmacy students is an approach to teach effective collaborative practice between a team of future health care providers. It relies on the support and motivation of students, staff and professionals to implement a variety of educational strategies and might involve evaluating student progression before and after delivery. Many barriers exist towards the implementation of IPE between dentistry and pharmacy health disciplines and outlining experiences across educational/clinical practice settings and possible solutions would assist in reducing those walls to realization. Implementation of IPE between pharmacy and dentistry undergraduate programs might lead to improved workplace collaborations and reduce medication errors, adverse events and increase in cross-referrals. Interprofessional education within undergraduate training forms the first steps towards reducing the burden on health care systems by enabling effective collaboration to improve patient outcomes. This narrative review describes IPE strategies used between pharmacy and dentistry undergraduate disciplines to enable collaboration, discusses the barriers and facilitators towards implementing IPE, and future directions for IPE education between these two disciplines.

Attitudes towards interprofessionalism among midwife students after hybrid-simulation: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Team performance, communication and leadership enhance the quality and effectiveness of interprofessional collaborations between midwifery students and anaesthetists in obstetric emergencies. The realistic setting of hybrid simulation provides practice for interprofessional competencies in a stressful environment without putting women at risk during childbirth.

OBJECTIVES

We investigated how full-scale interprofessional hybrid simulation affects the attitudes towards interprofessionalism of final year midwife students.

DESIGN

Two-centre prospective cohort study.

SETTINGS

Bern Simulation and CPR Centre of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Bern University Hospital (Bern, Switzerland) and Zürich University of Applied Sciences.

PARTICIPANTS

Final year midwife students from Bern University of Applied Sciences and Zürich University of Applied Sciences, both from the German-speaking Switzerland.

METHODS

One cohort was exposed to hybrid simulation and the other served as control. The simulation group filled in the German Interprofessional Attitude Scale (G-IPAS) before and after simulation, and then again three months later. The control group filled in two sets of G-IPAS questionnaires three months apart.

RESULTS

The total G-IPAS score increased significantly towards a more positive interprofessional attitude directly after the hybrid simulation. This increase was not sustained over the observation period of three months, although the score remained significantly higher than the score of the cohort without simulation.

CONCLUSIONS

A novel interprofessional hybrid simulation for obstetric emergencies for midwifery students promoted improved attitudes towards interprofessionalism immediately after simulation. These attitudes were improved compared to a control cohort without simulation, and the difference between the two cohorts remained three months after simulation. Future studies might focus on whether improved interprofessional attitudes lead to better healthcare and safety for women and children during childbirth.

Medical practitioners' educational competence about oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Medical practitioners' (MP) role is pivotal in primary prevention, early diagnosis, prompt referral and effective management of oral and oropharyngeal carcinomas (OC/OPC), which raises the importance of their effective OC/OPC education at all levels of medical education. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarise the available scientific evidence about their educational competence in dealing with OC/OPC. We made a systematic search of papers in the English language in MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane Library CENTRAL and CINAHL databases from their inception until December 2018. Overall, 23 cross-sectional and three interventional studies have been selected for the systematic review and 18 of these were included in the meta-analyses. Excluding tobacco use (synthesised estimate of 95% of respondents identified tobacco as an OC/OPC risk factor, 95% CI of synthesised estimate 92% to 97%) and alcohol consumption (65%, 95%CI 52% to 77%), less than half of MP (approximately) were knowledgeable about important OC/OPC risk factors including human papilloma virus (42%, 95% CI 30% to 54%), poor diet (34%, 95% CI 17% to 54%), and advancing age (45%, 95% CI 21% to 70%). There was a low to moderate level of awareness among MP regarding common precancerous oral lesions involving leukoplakia (56%, 95% CI 32% to 79%), erythroplakia (30%, 95% CI 8% to 58%), and oral lichen planus (13%, 95% CI 0 to 41%). Moderate knowledge was also recorded about frequent sites of OC development involving the tongue (48%, 95% CI 33% to 64%) and floor of the mouth (37%, 95% CI 19% to 57%). Most MP enquired about tobacco use (86%, 95% CI 74% to 96%), and alcohol consumption (73%, 95% CI 47% to 94%) during history taking, and expressed willingness to be given supplementary OC/OPC education (78%, 95% CI 54% to 96%), as well. With regard to the incidence of intraoral screening, 27% of MP (95% CI 12% to 46%) make an intraoral examination as a routine. Interestingly, studies from each continent yielded significantly different outcomes to some research questions in the review. From the MP's perspective, clinical time restrictions and deficiencies in organised training were recognised as the main barriers towards their OC/OPC educational competence. The findings of this systematic review indicated the existence of deficiencies in knowledge and misconceptions, neglected preventive responsibilities, and associated barriers towards OC/OPC. A need for improved OC/OPC training at all levels of medical education is required to increase competence worldwide.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practice behavior of dental hygienists regarding the impact of systemic diseases on oral health

OBJECTIVES

To assess the knowledge levels of dental hygienists in Saudi Arabia regarding the association between systemic and oral disease in addition to evaluating their attitude about integrating this knowledge into clinical practice. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire of 102 items among 192 randomly selected dental hygienists practicing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by individual interview. The research tool was pilot tested among 12 dental hygienists (8 females and 4 males) to obtain feedback about clarity and objectivity. Results: The response rate was 83%, and the majority of respondents were female (77.5%). The respondents' knowledge about the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases was better than other conditions. The level of education was considered to be a significant predictor in many items related to risk factors. More than the half, rated the evidence linking periodontal disease and diabetes mellitus as strong; however, the knowledge level of oral-systemic evidence was less than expected. A high percentage of the respondents were confident and comfortable managing patients with systemic conditions. Most agreed that dental hygienists must be prepared efficiently to manage medically compromised patients. Conclusion: Dental hygienists in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia have low level of knowledge about the oral-systemic disease relationship. This study suggests that greater emphasis should be placed on this association in current and continuing education programs.

Obesity education for front-line healthcare providers

BACKGROUND

To assess the effect of an interprofessional educational activity on professional skills, attitudes, and perceived challenges toward obesity management among front-line healthcare providers.

METHODS

A one-day interprofessional obesity education activity was organized for healthcare providers across various disciplines. All participants were invited to complete an anonymous survey pre- and post-event, and at six-month post-event. The survey was created based on a comprehensive list of perceived skills, professional attitudes and challenges toward obesity intervention compiled from existing literature.

RESULTS

Sixty-seven healthcare providers completed the survey pre- and post-event. Participants reported increases in professional skills such as their ability to assess weight (p = 0.04), to address weight management issues (p < 0.001), to teach/motivate patients toward physical activity (p < 0.001) and healthy eating practices (p = 0.001), to use behavior modification techniques (p < 0.001), and to deal with family issues (p < 0.001). Professional attitudes: practitioners felt more educated/competent in obesity management (P < 0.001), learned where to refer patients (p < 0.001), were more comfortable in discussing obesity in managing obesity (p < 0.001), were less likely to avoid the topic (p = 0.004) and felt less frustrated with the low success rate (p = 0.030). Enhancement in professional attitudes remained 6 months after the event. Improvements were mainly associated with male gender, younger age, fewer years of professional practice and healthcare professionals other than physicians. No statistically significant changes in perceived challenges were found after the educational event.

CONCLUSION

Results of this study showed that this interprofessional learning activity contributed to the improvement of professional skills and attitudes of front-line healthcare providers caring for those who are obese or at risk for obesity. The positive results of this interprofessional learning activity aligns with the training needs identified by healthcare practitioners in previous studies, and suggest that this design and content could be used to guide future educational programming in the care of obese people.