Utility of Dental Informatics for Dental Research in Rural Appalachia: Observational Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Rural medical centers, especially in the Appalachian region, have limited funds and expertise to pursue the latest technologies without evidence of their definite cost/benefit. We endeavor to show that dental informatics, which combines dentistry and information technologies, can help identify strategies leading to improved care and reduced cost for a very underserved population. OBJECTIVE Demonstrate the value of dental informatics on dental health care in rural Appalachia through a study measuring emergency room (ER) use for non-traumatic dental conditions (NTDC) and associated economic impact in a hospital system that primarily serves rural Appalachia. METHODS The Appalachian Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Oral health data mart with relevant data on patients (n=8372) with ER encounters for NTDC between 2010 and 2018 was created using Appalachian Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s research data warehouse. Exploratory analysis was then performed through the development of an interactive dashboard using Tableau. The overall burden of these encounters along with disparities in burden by age groups, gender, and primary payer was assessed. RESULTS Dental informatics was essential in understanding the overall problem and provided an interactive and easily comprehensible visualization of the situation. We found that ER visits for NTDC’s declined by 40% from 2010 to 2018 but a higher percentage of visits required inpatient care and surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS Dental Informatics can provide the necessary tools and support to healthcare systems and state health departments across Appalachia to address serious dental problems. In this case, informatics helped identify that although inappropriate ER use for NTDCs diminished due to ER diversion efforts, they remain a significant burden. Policy changes to promote models that improve access to preventive care such as that divert patients from ER by integrating preventive and curative dental services with existing medical coverage are needed.

Dental Informatics: A Click to the Future

ABSTRACT Biomedical informatics is one of the upgrading maturing disciplines. One of its subdisciplines, dental informatics, is beginning to emerge as its own entity. While there are numerous trained dental informaticians, dental faculty, and administrators, in general, they are not very familiar with dental informatics as an area of scientific inquiry. Scientific investigations in informatics center primarily around model formulation, system development, system implementation, and the study of effects. Informatics draws few of its scientific methods mainly from information science, computer science, cognitive science, and telecommunications. Dental informatics provides many types of research questions and methods from its parent discipline, biomedical informatics. However, there are indications that certain research questions in dental informatics require concrete solutions that have not yet been developed in other informatics fields. This article provides an overview of the unique features of biomedical and information sciences. How to cite this article Madhu PP, Kumar PGN, Prashant GM, Sushanth VH, Imranulla M, Nair AR. Dental Informatics: A Click to the Future. J Oral Health Comm Dent 2017;11(2):38-43.

The Chief Clinical Informatics Officer (CCIO)

SummaryThe emerging operational role of the “Chief Clinical Informatics Officer” (CCIO) remains heterogeneous with individuals deriving from a variety of clinical settings and backgrounds. The CCIO is defined in title, responsibility, and scope of practice by local organizations. The term encompasses the more commonly used Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO) as well as the rarely used Chief Pharmacy Informatics Officer (CPIO) and Chief Dental Informatics Officer (CDIO).The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) identified a need to better delineate the knowledge, education, skillsets, and operational scope of the CCIO in an attempt to address the challenges surrounding the professional development and the hiring processes of CCIOs.An AMIA task force developed knowledge, education, and operational skillset recommendations for CCIOs focusing on the common core aspect and describing individual differences based on Clinical Informatics focus. The task force concluded that while the role of the CCIO currently is diverse, a growing body of Clinical Informatics and increasing certification efforts are resulting in increased homogeneity. The task force advised that 1.) To achieve a predictable and desirable skillset, the CCIO must complete clearly defined and specified Clinical Informatics education and training. 2.) Future education and training must reflect the changing body of knowledge and must be guided by changing day-to-day informatics challenges.A better defined and specified education and skillset for all CCIO positions will motivate the CCIO workforce and empower them to perform the job of a 21st century CCIO. Formally educated and trained CCIOs will provide a competitive advantage to their respective enterprise by fully utilizing the power of Informatics science.

Learning by teaching in dental informatics: An explorative study

An intriguing educational approach, learning by teaching, was applied in the course of dental informatics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that teaching expectancy (preparation to teach) and actually teaching, have on skills and knowledge that students are expected to acquire during the course. In order to assess the applicability of this method to various forms of educational materials, students were asked to prepare and present educational objects that would be part of the current semester's curriculum. These were short lectures, computer laboratory exercises and virtual patient cases. The instructors evaluated their content and presentation fulfillment. Focus group sessions were held so as to capture the students' perception of the pedagogic technique. The results indicate that learning by teaching can enhance the quality of knowledge in Dental Informatics and increase computer, research, communication and cognitive skills of the involved students.

Learning by teaching in dental informatics: An explorative study

An intriguing educational approach, learning by teaching, was applied in the course of dental informatics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that teaching expectancy (preparation to teach) and actually teaching, have on skills and knowledge that students are expected to acquire during the course. In order to assess the applicability of this method to various forms of educational materials, students were asked to prepare and present educational objects that would be part of the current semester's curriculum. These were short lectures, computer laboratory exercises and virtual patient cases. The instructors evaluated their content and presentation fulfillment. Focus group sessions were held so as to capture the students' perception of the pedagogic technique. The results indicate that learning by teaching can enhance the quality of knowledge in Dental Informatics and increase computer, research, communication and cognitive skills of the involved students.