Christine M. Blue

Examining the influence of professional identity formation on the attitudes of students towards interprofessional collaboration

ABSTRACT An expectation of introductory interprofessional education (IPE) is improvement in attitudes towards other professions. However, the theory surrounding professional identity formation suggests this expectation may be premature. The objective of this study was to quantify first-year health professional students’ attitudes towards their own and other professions and to investigate the relationship between strength of professional identity and attitudes towards other professions and interprofessional learning. Using a pre/post-test design, researchers administered the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) to 864 first-year healthcare students in the Academic Health Center (AHC) at the University of Minnesota. The findings showed a decline in student attitudes towards their own and other professions. Additionally, a positive correlation between a weakened professional identity and readiness for interprofessional learning was demonstrated. This study found that an introductory IPE course did not positively affect student attitudes towards other professions, or strengthen professional identity or readiness for interprofessional learning. Analysis of the findings support the successive stages of professional identity formation.

Oral Health Care Delivery Within the Accountable Care Organization.

UNLABELLED The accountable care organization (ACO) provides an opportunity to strategically design a comprehensive health system in which oral health works within primary care. A dental hygienist/therapist within the ACO represents value-based health care in action. BACKGROUND Inspired by health care reform efforts in Minnesota, a vision of an accountable care organization that integrates oral health into primary health care was developed. Dental hygienists and dental therapists can help accelerate the integration of oral health into primary care, particularly in light of the compelling evidence confirming the cost-effectiveness of care delivered by an allied workforce. METHODS A dental insurance Chief Operating Officer and a dental hygiene educator used their unique perspectives and experience to describe the potential of an interdisciplinary team-based approach to individual and population health, including oral health, via an accountable care community. CONCLUSIONS The principles of the patient-centered medical home and the vision for accountable care communities present a paradigm shift from a curative system of care to a prevention-based system that encompasses the behavioral, social, nutritional, economic, and environmental factors that impact health and well-being. Oral health measures embedded in the spectrum of general health care have the potential to ensure a truly comprehensive healthcare system.

Dental school faculty attitudes toward dental therapy: A four-year follow-up

This study is a follow-up to a 2010 study at one U.S. dental school that found faculty attitudes toward the dental therapy model were mixed and there was a clear divide in attitudes between faculty members who were full-time educators and part-timers who also practiced outside the educational institution. The aim of this study was to determine faculty attitudes toward and perceptions of the dental therapy model at the same school four years after implementation of the dental therapy program. The identical questionnaire used in 2010 was used in this survey conducted from November 2013 to January 2014. All 254 full-time and part-time faculty members were invited to participate; responses were received from 75 faculty members, for a 30% response rate. Four years after the initial survey, the respondents showed greater acceptance of dental therapists and of dental therapy as a mechanism for addressing access to care problems. A majority of the respondents reported feeling a personal responsibility to ensuring the dental therapy model succeeded (52%); indicated being comfortable having a dental therapist provide care for their patients (60%); and agreed that the ability to delegate work to a dental therapist would make a dentists job more satisfying (54%). Faculty members who also worked in a private practice viewed the role of dental therapists in private practice more favorably in 2014 than in 2010. This study provides insight into how attitudes of educators toward a new profession evolve over time. The faculty appeared to be undergoing a reorientation on the topic of dental therapy. This transition in point of view may have been facilitated by factors such as continued exposure to the new professionals, information sharing, and time.