ABSTRACT
Improving oral health is a leading population health goal; however, curricula preparing health professionals have a dearth of oral health content and clinical experiences. We detail an educational and clinical innovation transitioning the traditional head, ears, eyes, nose, and throat (HEENT) examination to the addition of the teeth, gums, mucosa, tongue, and palate examination (HEENOT) for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of oral-systemic health. Many New York University nursing, dental, and medical faculty and students have been exposed to interprofessional oral health HEENOT classroom, simulation, and clinical experiences. This was associated with increased dental-primary care referrals. This innovation has potential to build interprofessional oral health workforce capacity that addresses a significant public health issue, increases oral health care access, and improves oral-systemic health across the lifespan.
Subject(s)
Dental Health Services/standards , Health Personnel/education , Health Services Accessibility/standards , Interprofessional Relations , Oral Health/education , Clinical Competence/standards , Comorbidity , Curriculum , Dental Health Services/organization & administration , Education, Dental/standards , Education, Dental/trends , Education, Nursing/standards , Education, Nursing/trends , Health Personnel/standards , Humans , Interdisciplinary Studies/standards , Interdisciplinary Studies/trends , Interinstitutional Relations , Models, Educational , New York , Oral Health/standards , Organizational Innovation , Schools, Dental/organization & administration , Schools, Dental/trends , Schools, Nursing/organization & administration , Schools, Nursing/trends , WorkforceSubject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/genetics , Genetic Predisposition to Disease/genetics , Genetic Testing/methods , Risk Assessment/methods , Adult , Counseling , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/genetics , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/prevention & control , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/prevention & control , Female , Genetic Predisposition to Disease/prevention & control , Humans , Life Style , Nurse Practitioners/organization & administration , Nurse's Role , Nursing Assessment/methods , Obesity/complications , Parents/education , Pedigree , Risk Factors , Risk Reduction BehaviorABSTRACT
Access to affordable health care has become a national crisis. The uninsured have many faces and many reasons for being uninsured. The nation cannot afford to sustain this broken system; not in terms of resources, nor in terms of the deteriorating health of the public. Universal coverage could offer a promising opportunity to begin to ameliorate the unsustainable use of expensive illness care now substituting for effective low-cost prevention and early detection. A proposal for essential health care coverage, a balance between cost and choice to maximize use of beneficial care, is presented.
