Inclusive Care
according to the centers of disease
control and prevention
61 million adults are living with a
disability in the united states today
that translates to one in every four
adults
a disability can be defined as any
condition of the body
or mind that makes it more difficult for
the person living with a disability
to do certain activities or interact
with the world around them
as you can imagine living with a
disability can bring along some special
health care needs
this includes any physical developmental
mental sensory behavioral
cognitive or emotional disability
that requires health care or services of
a
quantity or type beyond that of the
usual requirement
adults with disabilities are more likely
to be
inactive have heart disease diabetes
be obese and smoke
one in every three adults with a
disability
does not have a health care provider and
one in
every four has not gone in for routine
health care checkups within the last
year like their adult counterparts
children with special health care needs
are less likely to have access to health
care providers
especially oral health care and are less
likely to visit the dentist than their
age-match counterparts
according to the national institute of
health
persons with developmental disabilities
have a higher risk
of tooth decay gum disease
malocclusion oral malformations
damaging oral habits such as grinding or
clenching
trauma and injury overall
people with disabilities have poor oral
health
and poor oral hygiene now you may be
thinking or hopefully i have you
thinking
well why is this barriers to dental care
for adults
and children with disabilities include
but are not limited to
finances such as health insurance
benefits
difficulty with self-care especially
when it comes to personal oral hygiene
limited availability of appropriately
equipped dental clinics
and lack of appropriately trained dental
providers
fewer than 10 percent of dentists treat
patients with disabilities yet they make
up
25 of our population
and this is the problem i’m here to
bring attention to today
this year the theme of tedx yukon
farmington
is unfolding the unknown and when it
comes to dentistry
and people with disabilities the unknown
is what is keeping
such a large portion of our patient
population
from receiving oral care the majority of
providers
including physicians dentists and nurses
do not feel comfortable treating
patients with special health care needs
since so many of them don’t have any
prior experience or training in
providing for patients with special
needs
so how can we change this in july of
2020
the commission of dental accreditation
passed a standard that now requires
robust training by dental schools
in treating patients with intellectual
and physical disabilities
this was a huge step in the right
direction
studies have shown that students trained
to treat patients with disabilities
are more likely to see these patients in
their future practice
but this is only the beginning because
successful and effective training
modules
need to be incorporated into dental
curricula in order for the standard to
make a difference
currently i am part of a research team
that is working on a project
for applied interprofessional education
for inclusive health
in the fall of 2020 a survey was
distributed to medical and dental
students
to understand the knowledge perceived
skills
and abilities among these health
professionals
the results were not surprising of the
respondents
a quarter had no experience working or
volunteering
with individuals with intellectual
disabilities and 63 percent
had not treated a patient with an
intellectual disability
a little over 80 percent strongly agreed
that it is important to educate students
about treating patients
with special healthcare needs and that
it should be included in the curriculum
nearly all respondents agreed or
strongly agreed
that they would like to have more
experience before feeling comfortable
treating patients with special
healthcare needs
now based off these results our team
decided to begin
by creating a training module for one of
the health professions
dental medicine the module was designed
as case-based learning scenarios
taught over four weeks one hour per week
to a focused group of dental students
throughout their training
in addition to the hourly teaching
sessions the students were giving
pre-reads in the form of fact sheets
developed by the research team
pertinent articles and online videos to
watch
to assess student knowledge quizzes were
taken at the end of each class
feedback was also taken from the
students at the end of each week
so that modifications could be made to
the teaching material
every single week although the cases
were designed
to represent a specific healthcare need
students were also encouraged to apply
the patient management skills that they
were being taught
throughout these sessions to a broader
scope
of other special health patients during
each session the students were invited
to participate
in discussion through open-ended
questions about how they would proceed
in managing with these patients
including but not limited to
patient examination treatment planning
oral hygiene and nutritional counseling
and their modification
for special needs patients parental
education about
oral health and oral health needs for
their children
pre-appointment expectations introducing
a multi-disciplinary approach
towards patient management sedation
services for comprehensive care
and understanding the emotional mental
and physical
challenges faced by special health care
patients on a daily basis
we found their knowledge of
consideration in treating patients with
special health care needs
significantly increased from 48.5
to 78.6 after participating in the pilot
curriculum
which was statistically significant
participants
self-reported confidence in treating
patients with special health care
needs also increased providers could be
uncomfortable with the unknown
which is why it’s very important we help
by beginning to unfold that unknown
during their training with didactic and
clinical experience
some of you might be thinking well i’m
not a dental student
or a dentist so how is this relevant to
me
i’ll leave you with a couple questions
to think about
how can all professions be inclusive
do you feel comfortable providing the
best care or services possible
to any patient client or student with
disabilities
what type of resources would make you
feel more confident
in providing care or services to this
patient population
as it was best said by verna myers
diversity is being invited to the party
inclusion is being asked to dance thank
you so much for your time