1. Perceptions of Pre-doctoral and Dental Hygiene Students Regarding Intraprofessional Education
- Author
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Johnson, Cassandra Jean
- Subjects
- Curriculum Development, Continuing Education, Curricula, Dental Care, Dentistry, Education Philosophy, Educational Theory, Health Care, Health Care Management, Health Education, Medicine, Teaching, Intraprofessional education, integration, interprofessional education, dental, pre-doctoral, dental hygiene, students, dental institution
- Abstract
After graduation, dental and dental hygiene students are expected to work together to provide patient care. Generally, dental educational trains pre-doctoral (DDS) and dental hygiene (DH) students separately. This type of training prevents the full understanding and appreciation of each other’s roles in the dental team. A trend has been to focus on and evaluate interprofessional education but limited attention has addressed intraprofessional education. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of DDS and DH students regarding intraprofessional education. A 29-question survey was sent via Qualtrics, to 24 dental institutions that train both DDS and DH students. The survey was sent to DH program directors and DDS academic deans, who forwarded the survey to their respective students. A total of 151 students, representing programs from 16 states, completed the survey. Results showed 45% of the respondents stated that DDS and DH students took didactic courses together and 70.9% stated their clinics are integrated. 97.8% strongly agreed or agreed that learning with other DDS and DH students would help them become more effective members of an oral health care team, 97.7% strongly agreed or agreed patients would ultimately benefit if DDS and DH students worked together to solve problems, 98.5% strongly agreed or agreed that learning together before graduation would improve their professional relationship in the workforce, and 94% strongly agreed or agreed they wanted to have time learning together. Overall, DDS and DH students believe they would become better team members when their training is integrated and institutions should look for opportunities where intraprofessional education can be utilized.
- Published
- 2017