Interprofessional education – a case for Gerodontology training

ABSTRACT

Increasing life expectancy, concepts of patient well-being, and the multiplicity of needs of the geriatric population, demand contribution, and collaboration of physicians, dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, and other allied health disciplines, to provide quality care to patients. Interprofessional education (IPE) is an approach to education that improves collaboration among health professionals and it can aid in better management of geriatric patients. Communication and cooperation affect health care performance and hence, influence patient outcomes. Currently, each of the disciplines mentioned has customized undergraduate and/or postgraduate training in geriatric care. Though a uni-disciplinary educational approach increases knowledge and skills of individual professions separately, IPE offers significant advantages. IPE seeks to have students learning together, as well as from each other to develop exemplary collaborative practice. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed that IPE will ensure optimum health care. However, IPE is yet to find its proper place in dental education. It would help dental students to develop a positive attitude toward geriatric patients and increase their empathy and efficiency in the management of these patients. This manuscript seeks to highlight the concept of interprofessional education (IPE) in gerodontology and develop recommendations for implementation of IPE in India.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• communication
• education
• geriatric
• gerodontology
• health outcome
• interprofessional
• oral health

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge inputs provided by Dr John Gilbert, Divya Gigy, Dr Sebestina Anita Dsouza, Dr Jaspreet Saluja, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Dr Gaurang Baxi and Dr Nidhi Misra.

This paper was read as an oral presentation at the 5th World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics International Conference held on 21st-22nd November 2019 in Bangalore, India.

Disclosure statement

All authors have seen and approved the final version of the submitted manuscript. The article is the authors’ original work, has not received prior publication and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.