• Tony Skapetis, Tania Gerzina, and Wendy Hu.
• Education Westmead Centre for Oral Health, Western Sydney Local Health District, University of Sydney Faculty of Dentistry, PO Box 533, Wentworthville, NSW 2145, Australia. Tony.Skapetis@swahs.health.nsw.gov.au
• BMC Med Educ. 2012 Oct 30; 12: 103.

BackgroundClinicians providing primary emergency medical care often receive little training in the management of dental emergencies. A multimodal educational intervention was designed to address this lack of training. Sustained competency in managing dental emergencies and thus the confidence to provide this care well after an educational intervention is of particular importance for remote and rural healthcare providers where access to professional development training may be lacking.MethodsA descriptive study design with a survey instrument was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief educational intervention for primary care clinicians. The survey was offered immediately before and at six months following the intervention. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was performed on pre and six month post-workshop matched pair responses, measuring self-reported proficiency in managing dental emergencies. The level of significance was set at p < 0.001. Confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for participants who scored an improved proficiency.ResultsThe educational intervention was associated with a significant and sustained increase in proficiency and confidence to treat, especially in oral local anaesthesia, management of avulsed teeth and dental trauma, as reported by clinicians at six months after the education. This was associated with a greater number of cases where dental local anaesthesia was utilised by the participants. Comments from participants before the intervention, noted the lack of dental topics in professional training.ConclusionsThe sustained effects of a brief multimodal educational intervention in managing dental emergencies on practice confidence and proficiency demonstrates its value as an educational model that could be applied to other settings and health professional groups providing emergency primary care, particularly in rural and remote settings.

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