Graduation 2009 - UDM School of Dentistry - University of Detroit ...

Dental HygieneIncorporating “Real-Life” Patient Care in the ClassroomOne of the goals the Dental Hygiene Program has been working on this academic year is theincorporation of meaningful classroom learning activities that focus on developing students’clinical reasoning skills. The pre clinical and prevention courses, led by co-directors DurindaMattana and Laura Manning-Lee, were the first in the curriculum to be restructured tointegrate biomedical, oral medicine, and clinical course content in order for students to moreeffectively analyze patient assessment data and develop evidence-based, individualized dentalhygiene care interventions in the clinical setting. The intent was to utilize multiple learningapproaches to simulate real-life patient care situations applying biomedical concepts.The newly restructured curriculum includes two separate pre clinical courses in the firstand second semesters of the program whereby periodontal instrumentation is emphasizedin one course while oral health assessment is the focus of the other course. Course contentis introduced in the manner that a typical patient care appointment is conducted. Thus,obtaining patient consent is the initial concept introduced with medical history and vital signscontent following. As each segment is introduced, the introductory biomedical/oral medicine foundation is provided by respectivedepartmental faculty with the hope of students being able to gain a better experience for applying the relationship of biomedicaland clinical sciences. The use of each corresponding electronic patient record form for gathering necessary patient assessment datais also accessed via the student’s personal tablet PC in the classroom as a weekly exercise.Content introduced in each course is coordinated on a weekly basis. For example, periodontal pathogenesis is presented byperiodontal faculty the same week the probe is introduced and practiced in the preclinical course. Again, the goal is for enhancedacquisition of knowledge for the biomedical foundation of periodontics in a clinical education course. Concepts such as those inoral microbiology and immunology are also introduced at the same time in the biomedical curriculum.The prevention course is delivered in a similar fashion being comprised of primary, secondary and tertiary preventive therapiesintroduced in an integrated format by a variety of interdisciplinary faculty. All courses described utilize patient cases obtained fromtraditional and/or electronic textbooks or axiUm patient cases for each module presented. Other teaching strategies utilized includein-class group problem-solving activities, hands-on sessions, technological resources such as voice activated online power pointpresentations and novel assignments involving analysis of oral products and patient education scripts. The prevention course alsointegrates a variety of patient education tools such those found on the www.dentalcare.com website as well as the patient educationsystem CAESY, in order for students to practice patient education techniques throughout the course.It is our hope that the integrated curriculum format will provide a means to incorporate “real- life” patient care in the classroom.The goal is to provide experiences to enhance effective clinical judgment and care. Outcomes thus far reveal that dental hygienestudents are able to apply classroom information to patient care better. Other observations include improved patient communicationskills and evidence-based clinical decision making.Kathi R. Shepherd, RDH, MSDirector, Eduational Development & Outcomes AssessmentDirector of Dental Hygiene ProgramUniversity of Detroit Mercy | School of Dentistry