NYU Nursing and Dental Researchers Collaborate On Special Issue of <I>American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing</I>

New York University College of Nursing and College of Dentistry (NYUCN and NYUCD) teamed up to contribute the content of the January/February 2008 publication American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing (MCN).

Over 20 researchers from the disciplines of nursing and dentistry contributed articles written in an accessible and straight-forward no-nonsense style on a wide range of topics of particular interest to nurses practicing in perinatal, neonatal, midwifery, and pediatric specialties.

Susan Gennaro, DSN, RN, FAAN, Florence and William Downs Professor in Nursing Research at NYUCN led the issue with an editorial, “The Shadow of Your Smile,” setting the stage of the series of articles centered on the unique collaborative work of the nursing and dental professors, practitioners, and researchers at NYUCD/NYUCD.

Encapsulating the remaining articles is the commentary by Terry Fulmer, the Erline Perkins McGriff Professor and Dean, NYUCN, “New York University College of Nursing Takes on the Challenge of Innovation for the Healthcare System”

“All of us can agree that we need new paradigms to examine methods of improving the health of the public, says Dean Fulmer. “These ideas can be unsettling to a healthcare system steeped in tradition and used to existing systems. To anticipate the aging of our population and the crisis in healthcare workforce shortages, however, we all need to think differently. ”

Many of the issue’s articles were collaboratively written and focus on the unique synergies which have developed between NYUCN/NYUCD.

“Improving Oral Health in Women, Nurses’ Call to Action,” by NYUCN’s Donna A Clemens, PhD, RN and NYUCD’s A. Ross Kerr, DDS “Nurses across various practice settings need to understand the range of oral health problems associated with chronic health conditions and related treatments”

“Pregnancy is a time when women may be most receptive to changing health behaviors, such as smoking reductions or cessation, and receiving preventative dental care,” write NYUCD’s Stefanie L. Russell, DDS, MPH, PhD and NYUCN’s Linda J. Mayberry, PhD, RN, FAAN in their article “Pregnancy and Oral Health.” “Increased attention to oral care during pregnancy is essential to overall health during pregnancy,” say the authors.

In the article, “Maternal Periodontal Disease, Pregnancy, and Neonatal Outcomes,” the authors review the current literature on the association between maternal periodontal disease and poor pregnancy and neonatal outcomes and outline the role nurses can play in improving the oral health of pregnant women.

NYUCD’s Ananda P. Dasanayke, PhD, MPH, BDS, FACE; NYUCN’s Susan Gennaro; NYU School of Medicine’s Karen D. Hendricks-Munoz, MD, MPH, FAAP; and NYUCD’s Nok Chhun, MS note: “Nurses are in a unique position to aid in identifying and referring women who are in need of dental care and teaching all women the importance of good oral health during pregnancy.”

NYUCN’s Melanie S. Percy, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN’s article, “Oral Health of Adolescents: It’s More Than Dental Caries,” which stresses “the oral health of an adolescent can be a reliable and expedient indicator of [their] general health,” and urges nurses who regularly work with adolescents, to “screen adolescents for oral health problems and teach them practices that may prevent health problems with lifetime consequences.”

“Oral screening is important in terms of identifying women with HIV/AIDS and screening for health problems that exacerbate HIV/AIDS and increase the likelihood of vertical transmission from mother to fetus,” says Susan Gennaro, DSN, RN, FAAN, in “Oral Health and HIV/AIDS.” She continues, “Oral screening is a quick intervention that can identify underlying chronic diseases at an early stage (e.g. oral cancer or HIV) and identify disease progressions.”

In “Global Oral Health in Women and Children” NYUCN’s Lynn Clark Callister, PhD, RN, FAAN, says, “In developing countries, the availability of oral health services is limited, with little or no access to preventative or restorative dental care; thus periodontal disease and tooth loss are common.”

The College of Nursing at the College of Dentistry is located on New York University’s historic Greenwich Village campus in New York City. The College of Nursing is one of the leading nursing programs in the United States. The College offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing; Master of Arts and Post-Master’s Certificate Programs; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Research Theory and Development. For more information, visit www.nyu.edu/nursing.

Founded in 1865, New York University College of Dentistry is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the United States, educating more than 8 percent of all dentists. NYUCD has a significant global reach and provides a level of national and international diversity among its students that is unmatched by any other dental school. In 2005, the NYU Division of Nursing became a College of Nursing located within the NYU College of Dentistry.

MCN’s mission is to provide the most timely, relevant information to nurses practicing in perinatal, neonatal, midwifery, and pediatric specialties. MCN is a peer-reviewed journal that meets its mission by publishing clinically relevant practice and research manuscripts aimed at assisting nurses toward evidence-based practice. MCN focuses on today’s major issues and high priority problems in maternal/child nursing, women’s health, and family nursing with extensive coverage of advanced practice healthcare issues relating to infants and young children.

Each issue features peer-reviewed, clinically relevant articles. Coverage includes updates on disease and related care; ideas on health promotion; insights into patient and family behavior; discoveries in physiology and pathophysiology; clinical investigations; and research manuscripts that assist nurses toward evidence-based practices.