An interprofessional education initiative: Introducing a local anesthesia dental course for nurse practitioner and physician assistant students

Purpose/Objective: To assess the impact of local anesthesia (LA) course for physician assistant (PA) and adult gerontology-acute care nurse practitioner (NP) program students on knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and intention to incorporate skills in clinical practice. Methods: The course was conducted by dental faculty for forty-eight PA and seven NP students and consisted of two lecture hours on anatomy of the oral cavity, anesthesia and pain management, 2 hours of preclinic lab where participants practiced injection technique on mannikins, and a clinical practicum conducted by dental school faculty and residents where students observed dental treatment including administration of LA, and discussed symptom triage by NPs and PAs for patients with dental problems including orofacial pain, initial management including LA, and patient referral to dentists. An online survey was administered to all students before and after the course to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and intention to incorporate LA administration skills into clinical practice and elicit students’ perception of program quality. Pre- to post-changes were analyzed by two-tailed t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with significance at 0.05. Results: The response rate for pre- and post-course assessment was 96.4% and 87.3% respectively. Students’ overall scale score for self-assessment of dental knowledge increased significantly from pre- (2.34) to post-assessment (4.19). An increase was seen in students’ attitudes regarding management of dental emergencies (t = 2.181; p < 0.05). Furthermore, overall confidence of students related to managing patients with dental problems increased significantly (2.00 to 3.85) after taking the course. Conclusion: The LA course was well received by PA and NP students and resulted in increased knowledge and confidence in recognizing common oral health conditions, understanding dental pain management including administration of LA, and making referrals to dentists to optimize patient care.