Abstract

Abstract:

Background. Primary care (PC) training programs must incorporate oral health (OH) into their curricula to reduce health disparities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare OH education integration across multiple PC disciplines. Methods. In 2017, the authors surveyed deans and program directors (PDs) across 13 disciplines (2,245 PC programs) and used the Input Process Output framework to evaluate training factors across these disciplines. Results. Nine disciplines represented by 767 respondents were chosen for analysis (disciplines with ³40% response rate were included). Most of the physician assistant (PA) and pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) programs reported departmental support for OH and covered curriculum content topics on oral health risk assessment and evaluation. Similarly, over-half (>60%) PA and PNP PDs agreed that learners could answer OH-related questions on their board exams. Conclusion. Best practices learned from PNP and PA programs can be shared across disciplines to help bolster OH integration.

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