A Baccalaureate Education Curriculum to Prepare Dental Hygienists for Expanded Public Health Practice.

UNLABELLED: A baccalaureate dental hygiene education program was intentionally designed and implemented to prepare dental hygienists to work in expanded public health practice. BACKGROUND: Expanded practice dental hygienists (EPDH) in Oregon practice without the supervision of a dentist to provide dental hygiene services for underserved patients with limited access to dental care. Ten competencies were identified for the successful EPDH, and then these competencies were incorporated into the curriculum of a baccalaureate dental hygiene program. METHODS: When recent graduates of the innovative program were surveyed, results indicated that they felt well prepared for expanded practice, they had a high level of interest in working as an EPDH, and all were planning to apply for an expanded practice permit. Two graduates and their unique contributions to individuals in need are profiled. CONCLUSIONS: Intentional preparation of dental hygienists for expanded public health roles suggested the need for a baccalaureate curriculum designed specifically for that purpose. Advocacy and collaboration among educators, legislators, and administrators in Oregon led to the development and implementation of such an innovative dental hygiene education program at Pacific University. Graduates are likely to pursue opportunities working as EPDHs. Further research will document the viability of this purposefully designed curriculum to prepare dental hygienists to help meet the public need for optimal oral health.

Can interprofessional case conferences effectively teach interprofessional core competencies? A case study.

BACKGROUND: The establishment of interprofessional education (IPE) as an effective method for training future health care providers, the subsequent establishment of IPE requirements in accreditation standards, and the challenges to integrating IPE into professional-centric curricula have created an environment that encourages opportunity for innovation and collaboration in curriculum design. INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION ACTIVITY: Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies were integrated into an Interprofessional Case Conference (ICC) model that included six annual case conferences involving students from eight health professions across multiple campuses. Students worked in groups of eight with no more than two students from each profession per group. Interprofessional teams facilitated live progressive cases consisting of iterative guided student discussion alternating with group problem solving, followed by "talk-show style" reports. A retrospective pre-post study design using the validated IPEC Competency Self-Assessment V3 and Student Perspective of Interprofessional Clinical Education tools assessed student perspectives of the ICC model. The online survey was sent to participants who attended at least one ICC in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. DISCUSSION: Pre-/post-data was available from 94 students. Results revealed modest, but significant, score changes across both instruments, confirming the value of IPE and the ICC training model. IMPLICATIONS: The ICC formula allowed flexibility in applying IPE, resolved scheduling and resources challenges, complemented other IPE programming, and assisted in meeting pharmacy accreditation requirements and the diverse IPE needs of health professions education. The model is flexible, inexpensive, and could be readily replicated at other institutions.

Measuring the Efficacy of a Foundational Interprofessional Education Course Using the Attitudes Towards Health Care Teams Scale.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education (IPE) has been widely embraced over the past several years, in a variety of ways among different institutions. Due to heterogeneity of IPE programming, it has been challenging to determine the efficacy of pre-professional IPE across the field. However, individual institutions need to assess efficacy of their own IPE programming. The purpose of this study was to assess whether the interprofessional competence course (IPC) at Pacific University was effective as determined by changes in pre- to post-course scores on the Attitudes Towards Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS). METHODS: First-year students in the College of Health Professions completed the ATHCTS on the first and last days of the IPC course. Descriptive and inferential analyses were completed using SPSS. RESULTS: Student cohorts from both 2016 (n=423) and 2017 (n=445) demonstrated significant improvements in scores on the ATHCTS (p<0.01). Changes in attitudes differed as a function of gender, with men demonstrating a larger improvement (p=0.013). Changes in attitudes did not differ as a function of professional program. CONCLUSIONS: The IPC course demonstrated effective content delivery as measured by changes in the ATHCTS scores.

Faculty development program models to advance teaching and learning within health science programs.

Within health science programs there has been a call for more faculty development, particularly for teaching and learning. The primary objectives of this review were to describe the current landscape for faculty development programs for teaching and learning and make recommendations for the implementation of new faculty development programs. A thorough search of the pertinent health science databases was conducted, including the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC), MEDLINE, and EMBASE, and faculty development books and relevant information found were reviewed in order to provide recommendations for best practices. Faculty development for teaching and learning comes in a variety of forms, from individuals charged to initiate activities to committees and centers. Faculty development has been effective in improving faculty perceptions on the value of teaching, increasing motivation and enthusiasm for teaching, increasing knowledge and behaviors, and disseminating skills. Several models exist that can be implemented to support faculty teaching development. Institutions need to make informed decisions about which plan could be most successfully implemented in their college or school.

A 1-day course to improve the teaching effectiveness of health professions faculty members.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of a 1-day teaching-methods course for pharmacy and nursing faculty members on teaching proficiency and perceptions of effective teaching. DESIGN: A 1-day teaching-methods course was created and presented to 12 pharmacy and nursing faculty members. Participants' teaching sessions were video-recorded pre- and post-course. ASSESSMENT: A panel of educators evaluated pre- and post-course video-recorded teaching presentations to assess teaching effectiveness. Participants completed pre- and post-course self-evaluations and surveys. Panelists' assessments confirmed significant improvement in 7 of 10 domains. Perceptions of teaching efficacy and proficiency to teach effectively improved after completion of the course. CONCLUSION: A 1-day teaching-methods course, requiring minimal resources, is a valuable development resource that can improve teaching effectiveness through enhanced communication and teaching techniques. Because effective teaching is positively correlated with students' learning, training seminars can be integral to comprehensive quality improvement.