Authors: Kathy Lituri, RDH, MPH, Oral Health Promotion Director, Clinical Instructor; Michelle Henshaw, DDS, MPH, Associate Dean for Global and Population Health; and Sheree Norquist, MS, Program Administrator, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine.

At-a-Glance

Topic	Interprofessional team-based care
Target Audience	Social Work, Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Nutrition and Dietetics, Dentistry
Academic Focus	Clinical skills
Target IPEC Competencies	Domain: Values/Ethics Work in cooperation with those who receive care, those who provide care, and others who contribute to or support the delivery of prevention and health services. Domain: Teams and Teamwork Engage other health professionals—appropriate to the specific care situation—in shared patient-centered problem-solving.
Target HRSA Competencies	Domain: Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Exchange meaningful information among health care providers to identify and implement appropriate, high quality care for patients, based on comprehensive evaluations and options available within the local health delivery and referral system. Apply interprofessional practice principles that lead to safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable planning and delivery of patient and population-centered oral health care.
Learning Objectives	Discuss with team members each profession’s role in assessing, addressing, and improving a patient’s overall health. Develop an interprofessional plan of care including, but not limited to, a referral for preventive and restorative dental services.

Instructor’s Guide

Overview for instructors. The purpose of this didactic session is to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the roles and responsibilities of colleagues from other health professions. During the session, students will break into groups and teams to develop a plan of care for the case study patient, Terry.

Terry’s case integrates oral health with overall health, so if possible, instructors should incorporate dental, dental hygiene, or dental therapy students into each group to assist with oral health content.

Materials provided in this toolkit.

• Instructor’s Copy, Geriatric Oral Health Case Study: Terry
• Student handouts:
  • Geriatric Oral Health Case Study: Terry
  • Intraprofessional Group Questions
  • Interprofessional Team Questions

Additional materials needed.

• Index cards, two per student

Instructor preparation.

• Ask a faculty member from each of the participating programs to locate or draft a short description of the roles and responsibilities for his or her respective profession. Compile these descriptions in a single document and make it available to students through email, your preferred learning management system, or your website.
• Review the Instructor’s Copy, Geriatric Oral Health Case Study: Terry before the start of the classroom session. Note that highlighted areas flag important details.
• Review the Intraprofessional Group Questions and Interprofessional Team Questions and make notes according to the professions represented in the session.

Student preparation. Before the start of the didactic session, students must:

• Register for and complete the following Smiles for Life courses:
  • Course 1: The Relationship of Oral to Systemic Health
  • Course 7: The Oral Examination
  • Course 8: Geriatric Oral Health
• Review the roles and responsibilities document provided by the instructor.

Schedule.

• Introduction (10 minutes)
• Review the case study (10 minutes)
• Intraprofessional groups (15 minutes)
• Interprofessional teams (15 minutes)
• Discussion (20 minutes)

Instructor’s Notes

This didactic session will take an hour or more, depending on the number of participants.

Introduction (10 minutes). Review the learning objectives and purpose of the session. Ask students to identify themselves by hand as you note which professions are represented in the class. Then ask a student volunteer from each profession to read his or her roles and responsibilities aloud.

Review the case study (10 minutes). Break students into groups by profession. Each group should have no more than five or six members. Then ask all students to read the case study for Terry silently.

Note: If you prefer to review the case study as a full class, paste key points in PowerPoint slides for reference.

Intraprofessional groups (15 minutes). After everyone has reviewed the case study, ask students to take 15 minutes to work with the other members of their profession to answer the questions on the handout, Intraprofessional Group Questions. Each group should select one member to record the group’s answers.

Once all groups have completed the handout, ask the students to use an index card to comment anonymously on the following statement.

I felt my contributions to my professional group were valued.

In their comments, students should:

• Agree or disagree with the statement.
• Explain why they feel the way they do.
• Indicate their profession.

When all students have completed this exercise, collect the index cards and disband the groups.

Interprofessional teams (15 minutes). Ask students to reorganize themselves into interprofessional teams and assign each team a letter name (e.g., Team A, Team B, Team C). If possible, each team should consist of at least one representative from each profession participating in the session.

Now, ask the students to work with their new team members to answer the questions on the handout Interprofessional Team Questions. Each team should select one member to record the team’s answers.

Once all groups have completed the handout, ask the students to use an index card to comment anonymously on the following statement.

I felt my contributions to the interprofessional team were valued.

In their comments, students should:

• Agree or disagree with the statement.
• Explain why they feel the way they do.
• Indicate their profession and team.

When the students have completed this exercise, collect the index cards and disband the teams.

Explain to students that you will review their index cards to help plan future interprofessional education activities.

Discussion (20 minutes). Encourage students to share their care plans and their reactions to the exercise.To prompt discussion, ask the following questions.

1. How did the experience of working with the group differ from that of working with the team?
2. What did you learn about the contributions students outside your profession could make to Terry’s case?
3. Did you perceive barriers to caring for Terry as an interprofessional team? If so, what were they?
4. Were there also barriers or benefits to working intraprofessionally?
5. Did working with students from other professions make you aware of aspects of Terry’s health that you might not have considered before?
6. How will you apply what you learned today about interprofessional team-based care to your future education and practice?