| TRIAGE SYSTEM IN
PLACE
The School of Dentistry’s
patient admitting and emergency clinics have undergone major
changes. Formerly operating in the same clinical space, the
two are now separate, with the emergency clinic occupying the
first-floor area that was once the faculty practice clinic.
The physical changes are
accompanied by several clinical changes, including a new
triage system, that are designed to enhance both patient care
and student education.
“Our new patient triaging
system has been developed to improve clinic efficiency. We
hope to get our patients to the treatment planning stage much
faster and get more accomplished during their initial visit,”
says Michael Mulvehill, associate dean for clinical affairs.
Patient admitting, renamed the Center for Diagnostic Sciences,
will expand its available services to include patient
screening, admitting, comprehensive physical evaluation,
diagnostic imaging, oral medicine and orofacial pain. Based on
the assessment, patients will be assigned to a group practice,
referred to our advanced specialty clinics, or referred to the
faculty practice.
To actively participate in
patient enrollment and assignment, group practice directors
will rotate through the center and assist in assessing
patients and making clinical assignments.
Mahvash Navazesh, chair of the
division of diagnostic sciences, hopes that this new approach
to patient selection and assignment will improve access to
care and increase patient retention. She also hopes it will
help change people’s perception of dentistry.
“What we want to emphasize is
the relationship between oral health and overall well-being,
the relationship between mouth and body,” says Mahvash
Navazesh, “we are focusing on risk assessment and disease
prevention. Before patients would be told: You’ve got 10
cavities and we’ll have to fix that. Now we want to say: You’ve
got 10 cavities, here’s why, and here’s how you can avoid
getting ten more.”
First- and second-year doctoral
dental students will rotate through the center. First-year
students will shadow faculty as they evaluate and screen
patients. Second-year students, under faculty supervision,
will interview patients, perform head and neck examinations,
take vital signs, interpret radiographs, evaluate health
history and learn to interact with patients.
“We are getting the student
involved in patient care much earlier. By the time they are
juniors and actually rendering patient care in our clinics,
they will already know what to look for and how to talk to
their patients,” Navazesh says.
The emergency clinic has not
only changed its location, it has changed its goals and
nomenclature as well. Now known as the Center for Urgent Care,
Dental Trauma and Sports Dentistry, the new clinic— complete
with a waiting room, administrative offices, 11 operatories
and one radiographic room—has expanded the scope of its
services.
“What I am really excited
about is we are able to offer an array of dental services in
one area. We are able to have specialists from oral surgery,
periodontics or endodontics on rotation in our trauma center.
To have all of these activities in one place is beneficial not
only to the patient, but to our students as well,” says
Ramon Roges, director of the Center for Urgent Care, Trauma
and Sports Dentistry.
All patients who are
experiencing acute pain are immediately referred to the Center
for Urgent Care. In addition, university athletes and students
who have been injured while participating in sports activities
will be come to the center.
Patients who wish to become
comprehensive care patients will be referred to the Center for
Diagnostic Sciences.
“I think this is a wonderful
place for patients to come. It looks welcoming, its
comfortable and our patients really receive excellent oral
health care,” says Claire Gill, supervising faculty member
in the Center for Diagnostic Sciences. |
