Catherine K. Sadowski, MHS, PA-C, is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mallory M. Aycock, MPA, PA-C, is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia.
J Physician Assist Educ. 2021 Mar 1;32(1):28-32. doi: 10.1097/JPA.0000000000000340.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate physician assistant (PA) student knowledge after integrating an oral health curriculum longitudinally into a PA program and to assess student perceptions of the oral health curriculum.
This study was a 2-group longitudinal study comparing differences between the groups at 2 points in time. Cohort I (n = 60) took an oral health pretest and then, after completing oral health training, took a posttest. Cohort II (n = 49), which had not received oral health training, took identical testing on the same time interval. The students in Cohort I assessed the value of the oral health curriculum by answering a standardized perception survey.
Cohort I had a statistically significant increase (p ≤ .0001) in posttest assessment scores compared to Cohort II (control group). The students who were exposed to the oral health curriculum reported a deeper understanding and appreciation of oral health disease and increased confidence in oral health clinical application.
A greater awareness of the importance of oral health and chronic disease has evolved within PA education over the past 2 decades. Despite this progress, there is still a need to expand this curriculum and improve PA students' depth of knowledge in oral health. This study presents a novel and effective approach to incorporating an oral health curriculum into a PA program.
本研究旨在评估将口腔健康课程纳入医师助理（PA）项目中对学生知识的影响，并评估学生对口腔健康课程的看法。
本研究是一项 2 组纵向研究，比较了 2 个时间点两组之间的差异。队列 I（n=60）接受口腔健康前测，然后在完成口腔健康培训后接受后测。队列 II（n=49）未接受口腔健康培训，在相同时间间隔内接受相同的测试。队列 I 的学生通过回答标准化感知调查来评估口腔健康课程的价值。
队列 I 的后测评估分数与队列 II（对照组）相比有统计学显著增加（p ≤.0001）。接触过口腔健康课程的学生报告说，他们对口腔健康疾病有了更深入的了解和认识，对口腔健康临床应用的信心也有所增强。
在过去的 20 年里，PA 教育中对口腔健康和慢性疾病重要性的认识有所提高。尽管取得了这些进展，但仍需要扩大这一课程，并提高 PA 学生在口腔健康方面的知识深度。本研究提出了一种将口腔健康课程纳入 PA 项目的新颖而有效的方法。
