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