Ragade A, Yiannis C, Opie CA. Oral healthcare attendance and the effectiveness of referrals for rural antenatal women.
Aust J Rural Health 2023;
31:32-40. [PMID:
35834290 DOI:
10.1111/ajr.12907]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Revised: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To analyse the effectiveness of targeted stakeholder engagement strategies and the impact they have on antenatal referrals, oral health admission, attendance and education of pregnant women in a rural public dental clinic.
METHOD
Key stakeholders (obstetric trained general practitioners [GPs] and midwives) were educated and motivated to refer pregnant women to the rural public dental clinic via priority referral pathways. A 10-month pre- and post-intervention period of oral health assessments and treatments was compared and contrasted.
DESIGN
Quasi-experimental study.
SETTING
A rural health service in the Loddon Mallee region, Victoria.
PARTICIPANTS
Local pregnant women, 18 years of age or older, eligible for public dental care.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Increased oral health admission, attendance and education of pregnant women.
RESULTS
Active engagement with key stakeholders significantly increased the oral health referral, admission and attendance of eligible antenatal women. Prior to the intervention, only 15.04% of eligible antenatal women sought oral health treatment, in comparison with 40.37% post-intervention. Of the 62 women referred, 44 actively received dental care.
CONCLUSION
Active engagement with key stakeholders has demonstrated a clinically effective method of increasing antenatal referrals of socially disadvantaged women to a rural public dental clinic. Further collaboration between healthcare professionals can improve the oral health admission rates, attendance and education of antenatal women and their children.
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