New York University College of Nursing’s Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice (OHNEP) Program announces a partnership with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) and Temple University College of Public Health to produce a multi-media “Public Health Learning Module, “Using Healthy People 2020 to Improve Population Health: Oral Health Across the Lifespan.”
New York University College of Nursing’s Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice (OHNEP) Program announces a partnership with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) and Temple University College of Public Health to produce a multi-media “Public Health Learning Module, “Using Healthy People 2020 to Improve Population Health: Oral Health Across the Lifespan.”
The innovative multi-media learning tool aligns with the oral health objectives in Healthy People 2020, a health promotion and disease prevention initiative sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.
“Oral Health Across the Lifespan,” is the latest addition to the Public Health Learning Modules (PHLM) series hosted on the APTR website. Easily integrated into existing curricula, the module includes PowerPoint slides, video lectures, transcripts, quiz questions, in-class activities, discussion questions, and resources. The multi-media learning modules are a new resource to facilitate the goals of integrating Healthy People 2020 concepts into the curriculum of public health and health professions programs and schools.
The impact of oral health problems often go unrecognized:
- Early childhood caries (cavities) are the most common chronic disease of childhood in 5-17 year olds, 5 times more common than asthma
- 50 million school hours per year are lost because of oral health related problems due to pain and infection
- 70% of adults aged 65 and older lack dental coverage
- 130 million U.S. adults and children lack dental insurance
- A person’s ability to access oral health care is associated with factors such as education, income, race and ethnicity.
With oral health has becoming recognized as integral to overall health, an increasing number of health professionals have become involved in the assessment, diagnosis, prevention and management of oral health problems. Educating health professions faculty, students, and clinicians in oral health will promote bidirectional collaboration and referrals between dental and primary care providers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recent report, Integrating Oral Health and Primary Care Practice, highlights the importance of the primary care workforce developing interprofessional oral health core competencies that increase consumer access to preventive oral health care from multiple non-dental professions including, but not limited to: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, pharmacists, public health and community health workers.
“NYU Nursing’s innovative organizational partnership with NYU’s College of Dentistry provided a unique opportunity for the OHNEP Program and the nursing profession to be a strong voice for advancing a national interprofessional oral health agenda,” said Dr. Judith Haber, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Executive Director of the OHNEP Program. “Since oral health and its relationship to overall health is one of the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators, we wanted to sponsor a teaching module that took an interprofessional approach to addressing critical oral health issues across the lifespan.”
The aim of the OHNEP Program is to advance a national interprofessional nursing oral health agenda by integrating interprofessional oral health competencies in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs through faculty development, curriculum integration, and establishment of “best practices” in clinical settings.
“All too often public health and health professionals forget that oral health is an important part of overall health,” said Dr. Erin Hartnett, Director of the OHNEP Program. “Using an interprofessional approach to this module provided an opportunity for physicians, nurse practitioners, midwives, and physician assistants to join their dental colleagues in developing a module that highlights oral health issues in specific populations including oral health in children, pregnancy, older adults, as well as how oral health is linked to general health, and the importance of health literacy.”
The module is free and available to educators and students on the APTR website. Continuing Education Contact Hours are available in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physical and occupational therapy, and public health.
“Achieving improved oral health for people of all ages requires the continuous effort of all health professionals advocating for appropriate oral health care for their patients and educating them about their oral health needs”, said Dr. Mark Wolff, Professor and Associate Dean for Pre-doctoral Clinical Education, Chair, Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care at NYU College of Dentistry.
The OHNEP Program, representing the nursing profession on the Steering Committee of the National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health (NIIOH), is funded by the Dentaquest, Washington Dental, and Connecticut Health Foundations.
APTR Executive Director, Allison L. Lewis, commented that “APTR is dedicated to integrating Healthy People 2020 concepts into the curriculum for public health and health professions students. We are proud to be highlighting the important role of oral health in prevention practice.
About the New York University College of Nursing
NYU College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing education, research, and practice. It offers a Bachelor of Science with major in Nursing, a Master of Science and Post-Master’s Certificate Programs, a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and a Doctor of Philosophy in Research Theory and Development. For more information, visit nursing.nyu.edu.