Education and referral program for inpatient engagement in dental care

Previous research suggests that many hospitalized adults have unmet oral health needs and could benefit from discharge planning that includes linkage to dental care. This study protocol describes the planned implementation and evaluation of a study to develop and implement a system for referral to community dental providers with the goal of improving dental care utilization after hospitalization.

A preexperimental research design will be utilized to evaluate the feasibility of recruiting hospital inpatients for a program to improve their basic oral health knowledge and assist them in selecting a community dental provider within a newly established network and making an appointment to receive dental care.

This study will be implemented within the general medicine service in a metropolitan medical center for adult inpatients (≥ 18 years) who have dental insurance coverage but report having not seen a dental provider in the past year. The study aims to recruit at least 60 hospitalized patients and identify at least 10 local dental providers to create a referral network. Local dental providers will be identified via online internet searches, referrals from hospital community partners, and word of mouth, and invited for participation. Improvements in oral health knowledge will be measured by a simple pre-/posttest. Patients will be recruited while hospitalized through a large, preexisting, and ongoing hospital-based longitudinal study.

The expected outcomes for this study are (1) improved knowledge about oral health care and (2) attendance of dental appointments by study enrollees.

This study will provide evidence regarding the feasibility of implementing a hospital-based referral program to increase patient oral health knowledge and engagement with routine dental care after hospitalization.