Van Dam Lindsay
Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
Educ Prim Care. 2025 May;36(3):68-71. doi: 10.1080/14739879.2024.2420191. Epub 2024 Oct 30.
Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among the health professions is recognised as a vital component of efficient health systems and comprehensive healthcare teams. Interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP) is foundational for health professional students to gain an understanding of professional roles, responsibilities, and the value of other professions to patient care. Oral health professionals are highly skilled and knowledgeable experts who recognise the oral-systemic health link. However, they have been largely excluded from, and underutilised within primary healthcare settings and interprofessional teams. Given that oral health is a key indicator of overall health and wellbeing, there is a need mobilise oral health professionals within primary healthcare practice. Yet, advancements for IPECP in oral health education face significant barriers which impede the integration of the oral health professions within interprofessional teams. Collaborative approaches across health programmes to devise intentional, authentic, and transformative strategies for IPECP are needed to bridge gaps in patient care and to dismantle problematic perceptions of 'oral health' as distinct from overall health and wellbeing in contemporary healthcare practice.
卫生专业人员之间的跨专业协作（IPC）被认为是高效卫生系统和综合医疗团队的重要组成部分。协作实践的跨专业教育（IPECP）是卫生专业学生理解专业角色、职责以及其他专业对患者护理价值的基础。口腔卫生专业人员是技艺高超且知识渊博的专家，他们认识到口腔与全身健康的联系。然而，他们在很大程度上被排除在初级卫生保健环境和跨专业团队之外，且未得到充分利用。鉴于口腔健康是整体健康和福祉的关键指标，有必要在初级卫生保健实践中调动口腔卫生专业人员。然而，口腔健康教育中IPECP的进展面临重大障碍，这些障碍阻碍了口腔卫生专业融入跨专业团队。需要跨卫生项目采用协作方法，为IPECP制定有针对性、真实且变革性的策略，以弥合患者护理方面的差距，并消除当代医疗实践中认为“口腔健康”与整体健康和福祉不同的错误观念。
