Putting the Mouth Back in the Head: HEENT to HEENOT

Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice (OHNEP)'s picture
Submitted by Oral Health Nur... on Jan 23, 2015 - 9:41am CST

Resource Type: 
Journal Article

Improving oral health is a leading population health goal; however, curricula preparing health professionals have a dearth of oral health content and clinical experiences. We detail an educational and clinical innovation transitioning the traditional head, ears, eyes, nose, and throat (HEENT) examination to the addition of the teeth, gums, mucosa, tongue, and palate examination (HEENOT) for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of oral-systemic health. Many New York University nursing, dental, and medical faculty and students have been exposed to interprofessional oral healthHEENOT classroom, simulation, and clinical experiences. This was associated with increased dental-primary care referrals. This innovation has potential to build interprofessional oral health workforce capacity that addresses a significant public health issue, increases oral health care access, and improves oral-systemic health across the lifespan.

Author(s): 
Judith Haber
Erin Hartnett
Kenneth Allen
Donna Hallas
Caroline Dorsen
Julia Lange-Kessler
Madeleine Lloyd
Edwidge Thomas
Dorothy Wholihan
Subject: 
Assessment & Evaluation
Collaborative Practice
Communities & Population Health
Education & Learning
Teamwork
Additional Tags (Optional): 
12