First Impressions Dental Intraprofessional Simulation (FIDIS): A novel education program

With a long history in healthcare education, simulation and inter/intra professional education (IPE) has become an essential feature of undergraduate healthcare education (1). Despite the effectiveness of both within pre-registration courses, there is a paucity of published literature related to simulation and intraprofessional (within profession) learning in dental and oral health education (2).
The Faculty of Health Sciences at Holmesglen Institute offers three full time dental courses in the areas of Dental Technology (DT), Dental Assisting (DA) and a Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH), with students educated separately. We aimed to develop and trial an immersive simulated IPE activity based on the care of a patient requiring a dental impression from admission to a dental clinic through to discharge. Objectives were derived from the Interprofessional Education Collaborative core competency domains of learning about roles and responsibilities, communication, and teamwork (3).
A team-based dental care delivery model was created with trios of student from the three dental courses grouped together to work in the dental clinic at three dental chairs. A total of twenty-four 30-minute rotations occurred throughout the day with each triad of students demonstrating knowledge and skills related to their area of practice and intraprofessional collaboration and teamwork. A dentist and dental assistant supervised the students at each dental chair.
DT students were designated the role of the ‘patient’ giving them the opportunity to experience a dental impression from a patient’s perspective. DAs received the ‘patient’ in reception and escorted them to a dental chair. BOH students performed the mouth impression, with the DT assisting with chairside duties. Equipment was then sterilised by DAs in the sterilisation room, with the mouth mould continuing to the next stage of the impression making process.
The FIDIS model of bringing together vocational and higher education students provided a unique opportunity to showcase their specialised skills plus teach them the importance of providing safe, collaborative, high quality oral health care.
Students were expected to demonstrate an awareness of each other’s scope of practice, their roles and responsibilities, teamwork dynamics, and effective intraprofessional communication skills, all undertaken in a respectful collaborative manner.
Feedback from students identified a sense of satisfaction working as a team in an authentic simulated industry setting. Whilst challenges existed, the FIDIS program also yielded valuable lessons to guide faculty in the implementation of IPE in the future and created a new team-based dental care delivery model.
Integrating IPL into the dental courses can prepare future dental healthcare professionals to work in teams and develop capabilities for intraprofessional practice.
References
1. Li, Ju, Xue Li, Linlin Gu, Rui Zhang, Rongyan Zhao, Qiaoying Cai, Yanyan Lu, Hui Wang, Qinghui Meng, and Holly Wei. "Effects of simulation-based deliberate practice on nursing students' communication, empathy, and self-efficacy." Journal of Nursing Education 58, no. 12 (2019): 681-689.
2. Satter, Kimber EG, Sarah C. Jackson, Arthur C. DiMarco, and Pamela R. Nagasawa. "Intraprofessional education with dental hygienists: The post training impact on dentists." Journal of Dental Education 84, no. 9 (2020): 991-998.
3. Collaborative, Interprofessional Education. "Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: 2016 update." Washington, DC: Interprofessional Education Collaborative 10 (2016).