Strategies to assure access and equity: Service learning partnerships and faculty perspectives, the cogs in the wheel


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

5129.0: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 1:30 PM

Abstract #109193

Strategies to assure access and equity: Service learning partnerships and faculty perspectives, the cogs in the wheel

Susan L. Dietrich, DMD and Neal A. Demby, DMD, MPH. Department of Dental Medicine, Lutheran Medical Center, PO Box 770514, Ocala, FL 34477, 352-854-4794, sdfl@att.net

Community Health Centers (CHC) throughout the country continue to seek relief from chronic dental workforce shortages. A resource for relief over the past decade for over 40 CHCs has been to partner with a postdoctoral residency training program and develop a service-learning environment for faculty and residents. This paper discusses the issues that need to be addressed in managing the transition of CHC dental directors and clinicians from service-oriented providers to faculty and mentors within a service-learning environment. Lutheran Medical Center (LMC) is the educational sponsor of a postdoctoral general dentistry residency training program that has developed affiliations/linkages with CHC and IHS facilities as a strategy to increase access to care for those most vulnerable, by partnering and placing residents within CHCs/IHS, in order to ameliorate workforce shortages. Dental residents provide patient care and achieve competency in general dentistry. CHC dental directors and key clinical staff who participate in residency education were surveyed and the results of the survey will be analyzed and discussed. The survey instrument assessed critical domains considered important in assuring a successful partnership. These include: the impetus for the initial involvement, gaining support from CHC Executive directors; the transition from clinician to clinician educator/mentor, balancing teaching and service, resident integration, impact on all staff levels, the longevity of the relationship, communication between LMC and the CHC, time commitment, faculty development initiatives, problems encountered, impact on patient services and patient satisfaction. The results provide guidance on the characteristics considered essential by CHC faculty in assuring successful partnerships.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

1. develop an understanding of the partnership structure between Lutheran Medical Center postdoctoral dental residency program and its community based dental affiliates.
2. identify the strengths and weaknesses of implementing a service-learning environment within a community health center dental service to address workforce shortages from the faculty perspective
3. assess the feasibility of creating a service learning environment within a CHC to address the oral health workforce shortages.

Keywords: Service Learning, Workforce

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation

Oral Health Workforce Issues

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA