Online Pediatric Oral Health Education for Enhancing Nurses’ and Nurse Practitioners’ Knowledge

Abstract

There are over three billion people affected by oral disease worldwide. In Hawaii, one in every six low-income Head Start children has already experienced tooth decay however, this chronic disease is preventable. Despite the severity of this issue, oral health education is often omitted or minimized in medical, physician assistant and nursing curricula, which limits healthcare providers’ ability to detect and address early signs of poor oral health. Nurse and nurse practitioners often serve as a first point of contact within the healthcare field, which places them in a unique position to promote early detection and intervention. This project evaluated the effectiveness of the Smiles for Life® online pediatric oral health curriculum in enhancing knowledge and confidence among nursing professionals. Eleven nursing professionals were recruited using flyers and word-of-mouth efforts. A pre- and post-survey was used to assess baseline knowledge and confidence and measure improvement following course completion. Descriptive statistics indicated knowledge scores increased from 5.09 to 9.00, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement (p <.001). Confidence scores also rose from a pre-survey mean of 4.73 to a post-survey mean of 8.18, with statistically significant results (p <.001). These findings indicated that the Smiles for Life child oral health curriculum had a meaningful and positive impact on improving knowledge and confidence among nursing professionals. Keywords. Pediatric oral health, dental, caries, children, fluoride, primary care, nursing, online education, Smiles for Life