Collaboration is focus of NHTI health forum

“Common Ground: Practical Approaches for Collaborative Medical and Dental Care,” a forum focusing on how outcomes for patients can improve when health professionals collaborate, will be held June 11 at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord.With lead sponsorship by the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation, the conference is a collaborative effort of NHTI’s Nursing and Allied Dental Health professional development programs to raise awareness of the value to patients of the integration of medical and dental care.“Our support for this important educational program reflects Northeast Delta Dental’s commitment to encouraging effective clinical collaboration between medical and dental practitioners to improve management of both oral and systemic health,” said Dr. Shannon E. Mills, vice president for professional relations and science at Northeast Delta Dental.The conference will present concrete information that can be implemented in all health-care settings that is designed to improve the overall health of patients, including physical assessment skills, oral care in the older adult, smoking cessation guidelines, caring for the diabetic patient, dental carries risk assessment and more.“This is an attempt to foster dental and medical providers’ willingness to move beyond ‘silo’ thinking in the treatment of patients,” said Sandra McBournie, coordinator of NHTI’s Center for Nursing Professional Development. “Medical professionals need to know that certain systemic conditions will impact the oral health of the patient, and dental professionals need to know that existing oral conditions can impact the overall health of a patient.”Keynote speaker Dr. Hugh Silk of the University of Massachusetts Medical School will discuss how academia is considering the importance of crossing the medical/dental divide as well as how many medical, dental and other allied health programs are incorporating principles of their oral/medical counterpart into their curriculum.
For more information, contact NHTI’s Business Training Center at nhtibtc@ccsnh.edu or 603-271-6663.