Abstract
Abstract Along with population aging, the provision of dental care services at conventional dental clinics and hospitals for elderly people has increased in recent years. Furthermore, the opportunity to provide dental care services at home as well as in long-term care insurance facilities has also increased. In order to provide safe and secure dental medical services to the public, dental hygienists need to cooperate not only with medical and dental personnel but also with other specialists such as nurses and nutritionists. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for universities to conduct such interprofessional education and foster human resources who can improve the quality of life of elderly people.
At the School of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry of Kyushu Dental University a course on interprofessional education has been provided to second-year students together with the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Department of Nursing, Department of Welfare, Faculty of Health and Welfare of Seinan Jo Gakuin University, and Faculty of Design of Nishi Nihon Institute of Technology. This study examined the educational effects of this course on students by conducting tests before and after the course for all students and a questionnaire survey of the students at the School of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry of Kyushu Dental University in 2017 and 2018.
The post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores in both years. In addition, there was a positive correlation between the acquisition of knowledge of interprofessional collaboration and the understanding of other types of occupation in the post-study questionnaire survey.
This result suggests that this course had a beneficial effect on interprofessional education.
