Oral health clinical training and dental referral program for nurses: An interprofessional collaborative project

Introduction: The overall objective of this study was to establish an interprofessional oral health training program for nursing personnel at Oregon Health & Science University. Methods: Fifteen registered nurses participated in didactic and clinical training and screened the oral health of patients. Nurses completed confidence assessments and patients completed satisfaction surveys. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests for comparisons of mean scores. Results: Pre- and post-training surveys demonstrated significant increases in nurses’ knowledge, confidence in discussing dental problems, performing dental screenings, and referring patients to dentists (p < 0.05). Patient satisfaction surveys (n = 89) denoted satisfaction with oral screenings and willingness for nurses to perform them. Conclusions: Nurses participating in oral health and clinical screening training programs supervised by dentists significantly increased their confidence in providing dental referrals. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the impact of such training programs on patient health.