Intraprofessional education with dental hygienists: The post training impact on dentists

Generally, dental and dental hygiene (DH) students are educated separately. When these students are educated together, studies show improvements in teamwork and understanding of their distinct roles. This longitudinal study was conducted to see if intraprofessional education (IntraPE) between dental and DH students can impact dentists in practice. Specifically, this study examined the attitudes of graduates from the University of Washington School of Dentistry (UWSOD), some of whom participated in the Regional Initiative in Dental Education (RIDE) program. The RIDE program, designed to meet the needs of underserved populations, combines courses of 8 first-year dental students with 30-36 Eastern Washington University DH students.

In 2018, all 409 UWSOD dentists from 2012-2017, including 48 RIDE and 361 non-RIDE dentists, were invited to participate in this study. Attitudes toward teamwork and roles and responsibilities were assessed using qualitative and quantitative measures. The RIDE and non-RIDE responses were compared and tested using t-tests for statistical significance.

A total of 77 responses were analyzed with a response rate of 54% (n = 26) for RIDE and 14% (n = 51) for non-RIDE. Results show the RIDE program improved attitudes toward DH in practice. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in understanding roles and responsibilities, but not teamwork. The majority of non-RIDE dentists (n = 26, 51%) felt their education would have benefited from formal IntraPE.

To improve attitudes, dental schools should consider formal partnerships between dental and DH programs, specifically in clinical settings.