Senior Oral Health: A Community-Based, Interprofessional Educational Experience for Nursing and Dental Students.

Abstract

The current article highlights an interprofessional, older adult oral health community program, created through an Accelerating Interprofessional Community-Based Education and Practice grant from the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, designed to address the gap between older adult health education and care delivery. This project developed an advanced practice, nurse-led partnership among The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing and the Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice Program (both located at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing), New York University College of Dentistry, and Regional Aid for Interim Needs (RAIN), a community service organization for older adults in the Bronx. Teams of nursing (n = 26), nurse practitioner (n = 16), and dental (n = 64) students provided oral health education and oral hygiene instruction using Tooth Wisdom® educational materials to older adults, home health aides (HHAs), and volunteers in nine RAIN senior centers. Students demonstrated increases in their self-reported interprofessional competencies based on the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey. Results also revealed that older adults (n = 500), HHAs (n = 142), and volunteers (n = 21) at the RAIN senior centers who attended the Tooth Wisdom presentation demonstrated an increase in oral health knowledge. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 46(8), 37-45.].