Interprofessional education for oral-systemic preventive care in older adults: evaluation of a nursing-dental educational session.

BACKGROUND

The oral-systemic connection is a critical yet under-addressed component of geriatric care, despite the high burden of oral disease and preventable morbidity among older adults. Interprofessional education (IPE) offers a strategy to strengthen team-based communication, clarify professional roles, and support collaborative preventive care.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the development and implementation of a joint nursing-dental IPE session integrating geriatric oral health, oral cancer screening, and vaccination content, and to evaluate students' post-session perceptions of interprofessional collaboration using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised (SPICE-R) instrument.

METHODS

A 2-hour, case-based IPE session was delivered to 73 predoctoral dental students and 4 graduate nursing students from two institutions using a flipped-classroom model with pre-work, skills-based instruction, and interprofessional case planning. Learner perceptions were assessed post-session using the validated 10-item SPICE-R instrument. Descriptive statistics summarized responses, and internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

Seventy-seven learners completed the post-session survey. Mean item scores ranged from 3.70 to 4.34 on a 5-point Likert scale. The mean total SPICE-R score was 41.78 ± 8.77. Subscale mean scores were 4.22 ± 0.96 for Teamwork and Team-Based Practice, 4.18 ± 0.86 for Roles and Responsibilities, and 4.12 ± 0.91 for Patient Outcomes from Collaborative Practice. Internal consistency was excellent (α = 0.97).

CONCLUSIONS

This educational session demonstrated feasibility and was associated with favorable post-session perceptions of interprofessional collaboration. However, findings should be interpreted cautiously because the evaluation primarily reflects dental student perceptions due to the substantial imbalance in professional representation.