Attitude and awareness of medical and dental students towards collaboration between medical and dental practice in Hong Kong

BMC Oral Health

Chun-Hung Chu¹  Edward CM Lo¹  Shinan Zhang¹ 

[1]Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

关键词: Awareness;    Attitude;    Medical-dental collaboration;   

Others  :  1183526
DOI  :  10.1186/s12903-015-0038-2

 received in 2014-08-30, accepted in 2015-04-23,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

Medical-dental collaboration is essential for improving resource efficiency and standards of care. However, few studies have been conducted on it. This study aimed to investigate the attitude and awareness of medical and dental students about collaboration between medical and dental practices in Hong Kong.

Methods

All medical and dental students in Hong Kong were invited to complete a questionnaire survey at their universities, hospitals and residential halls. It contained 8 questions designed to elicit their attitudes about the collaboration between medical and dental practice. Students were also asked about their awareness of the collaboration between dentistry and medicine. The questionnaires were directly distributed to medical and dental students. The finished questionnaires were immediately collected by research assistants on site.

Results

A total of 1,857 questionnaires were distributed and 809 (44%) were returned. Their mean attitude score (SD) towards medical-dental collaboration was 6.37 (1.44). Most students (77%) were aware of the collaboration between medical and dental practice in Hong Kong. They considered that Ear, Nose & Throat, General Surgery and Family Medicine were the 3 most common medical disciplines which entailed collaboration between medical and dental practice.

Conclusion

In this study, the medical and dental students in general demonstrated a good attitude and awareness of the collaboration between medical and dental practice in Hong Kong. This established an essential foundation for fostering medical-dental collaboration, which is vital to improving resource efficiency and standards of care.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Zhang et al.; licensee BioMed Central.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]The world oral health report 2003. WHO, Geneva; 2003.
• [2]Li X, Kolltveit KM, Tronstad L, Olsen I. Systemic diseases caused by oral infection. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2000; 13(4):547-58.
• [3]Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative. A national interprofessional competency framework. Available from: http://www.cihc.ca/files/CIHC_IPCompetencies_Feb1210.pdf.
• [4]Hallett C, Birchall E. Co-ordination and child protection. HMSO, Edinburgh, Scotland; 1992.
• [5]Department of Health, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 2012 Health manpower survey summary of the characteristics of doctors enumerated. Available from: http://www.dh.gov.hk/english/statistics/statistics_hms/sumdr12.html.
• [6]Department of Health, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 2012 Health manpower survey summary of the characteristics of dentists enumerated. Available from: http://www.dh.gov.hk/english/statistics/statistics_hms/sumdn12.html.
• [7]Suen RPC, Lai SML, Bridges S, Chu CH. Students’ satisfaction with a dental summer programme and importance of influencing factors for choosing dentistry as their career. Eur J Dent Educ. 2014; 18(2):104-9.
• [8]Lo ECM. Enhancing health care services through close collaboration between medical and dental professionals. Hong Kong Med J. 2014; 20(2):92-3.
• [9]The University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Diabetic Society. Promoting oral-systemic health for effective diabetes management: 1st systemic health round table discussion Hong Kong. Available from: http://facdent.hku.hk/docs/Discussion_Paper_Diabetes_2009.pdf.
• [10]Daniel W, Linda J, Nick B. Implementation Strategies: “Collaboration in Primary Care –Family Doctors & Nurse Practitioners Delivering Shared Care”: Discussion Paper Written for the Ontario College of Family Physicians. Available from: http://www.eicp.ca/en/toolkit/management-leadership/ocfp-paper-handout.pdf.
• [11]Hendricson W, Cohen P. Oral health care in the 21st century: implications for dental and medical education. Acad Med. 2001; 76(12):1181-206.
• [12]Migliorati C, Madrid C. The interface between oral and systemic health: the need for more collaboration. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2007; 13(4):11-6.
• [13]Chu CH, Lo EC. Patients’ satisfaction with dental services provided by a university in Hong Kong. Int Dent J. 1999; 49(1):53-9.
• [14]Kanuk L, Berenson C. Mail surveys and response rates: a literature review. J Mark Res. 1975; 12(4):440-53.
• [15]Chu CH, Yeung CY, Lo EC. Monitoring patient satisfaction with university dental services under two fee-paying systems. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2001; 29(5):390-8.
• [16]Baron-Cohen S. The essential difference: the truth about the male and female brain. 1st ed. Basic Books, New York, NY; 2003.
• [17]Ingledew D, Brunning S. Personality, preventive health behavior and comparative optimism about health problems. J Health Psychol. 1999; 4(2):193-208.
• [18]Steptoe A, Wardle J, Vinck J, Tuomisto M, Holte A, Wichstrom L. Personality and attitudinal correlates of healthy and unhealthy lifestyles in young adults. Psychol Health. 1994; 9(5):331-43.
• [19]Miller C, Freeman M, Ross N. Interprofessional practice in health and social care. Arnold, London, UK; 2001.
• [20]Hughes L, Lucas J. An evaluation of problem-based learning in the multiprofessional education curriculum for the health professions. J Interprof Care. 1997; 11(1):77-88.
• [21]Macpherson K. Problem-solving ability and cognitive maturity in undergraduate students. Assess Eval High Educ. 2002; 27(1):5-22.
• [22]Glick M, Greenberg BL. The potential role of dentists in identifying patients’ risk of experiencing coronary heart disease events. J Am Dent Assoc. 2005; 136(11):1541-6.
• [23]Carpenter J. Doctors and nurses: stereotypes and stereotype change in interprofessional education. J Interprof Care. 1995; 9(2):151-61.
• [24]Cruz G. Dental screening and referral of young children by pediatric primary care providers. Pediatric. 2004; 114(5):642-52.