Promoting oral health in nursing education through interprofessional collaborative practice: A quasi-experimental survey study design

Optimal oral health education is limited in nursing curricula and may therefore, not translate as a priority for nurses in clinical practice. To evaluate the influence of an educational intervention on knowledge, confidence, practice behaviors, and perceived barriers of nursing students regarding preventive oral health services. Quasi-experimental pre–post survey study design. Sixty-four first–year Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing (ASBN) students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Students were asked to complete oral–health–related questionnaires following didactic and clinical simulation on principles of oral health, oral screening, counseling, and referral to a dentist. A post–survey following clinical rotations was completed testing long–term effectiveness. Fifty–five (86%) ABSN students completed the pre–survey, 49 (77%) completed the post–survey; 44 (69%) completed both. Participants' showed a significant increase in knowledge from pre–post questionnaires for two of five questions (p = 0.04; p