Undergraduate students studying Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy from the National University of Singapore (NUS) will be able to gain deeper and broader knowledge and understanding of healthcare issues and challenges through a new interdisciplinary Common Curriculum.
Dental Asia speaks with Professor Chris Peck, Dean of NUS Faculty of Dentistry, and Associate Professor Wong Mun Loke, Vice Dean (Education) of NUS Faculty of Dentistry, on how the changes in the curriculum and the wider healthcare landscape will influence dental education.
Since August 2023, Dentistry undergraduates from NUS joined peers from Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy as the first cohort of students enrolled in a new curriculum aimed at enhancing undergraduate healthcare education to futureproof Singapore’s healthcare system.
The new interdisciplinary Common Curriculum was introduced for undergraduates in Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy where about 870 first-year students enrolled in five specially designed pillars together, collaborating across the four healthcare disciplines as part of their learning journey.
Against the background of the nation’s healthcare initiative — Healthier SG — which focuses on integrated and preventive care, doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists will need to work together to support and holistically care for the community in all aspects of their healthcare needs. The cross-disciplinary curriculum seeks to cultivate in students the awareness of social issues and their impact on health, teamwork, communication skills, professionalism, digital literacy, and interprofessional education.
COMMON GROUND
The newly curated Common Curriculum draws on academic content from Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, and has to be completed in the first two years of candidature. It complements the existing curriculum of the four disciplines and comprises five pillars — Social and Behavioural Determinants of Health, The Foundations of Health Professionalism, Basic Skills in Health Professionalism, and two pillars that address different aspects of data literacy for healthcare — with each course to be completed within 13 weeks.
For Dentistry students, its scope and contents reinforce the pre-clinical curriculum delivered in the first two years of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme. “What used to be taught uni-professionally, is now taught inter-professionally among Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy students. For instance, our dental students now learn about the ‘Social and Behavioural Determinants of Health’ as well as ‘Patient Communication’ together with their peers from the other healthcare programmes through the Common Curriculum instead of learning it among themselves,” explained Assoc Prof Wong.
The interdisciplinary collaborative learning, facilitated by the Common Curriculum, not only allows students from different healthcare disciplines to better understand the broad range of health issues faced by patients; it also allows them to better understand the roles and responsibilities of the various healthcare professionals.
“With an increasingly ageing population, many older adults may present with medical conditions alongside their oral health issues. The co-management of these patients by the larger healthcare team comprising doctors, nurses, pharmacists and dentists will ensure that older adult patients receive holistic, comprehensive and quality care,” Assoc Prof Wong added.
DATA, APPROACHES, AND EDUCATION
On the evergreen challenge to “future-proof” dental students and professionals in an evolving future, Prof Peck takes the consideration of how the communities served are changing and then adapting to these changes as the first step.
“Across Asia, our populations are ageing, and there is much diversity culturally, educationally, and socioeconomically. These and other social determinants of health play a large role in shaping one’s oral health and access to care. Consequently, dental practitioners need to individualise care so that it is person-centred, considering the individual’s biological, psychological and social factors,” said Prof Peck.
Prof Peck explained that this “biopsychosocial” approach is especially important for the dental practitioner as the oral and craniofacial region is important for an individual’s physical and emotional identity, for verbal and non-verbal communication, mastication, and is associated with the very important special senses of taste, smell, vision and hearing.
Specific skills required of a dental practitioner include cultural competence, an understanding of the needs of elderly patients and other groups who are at risk of poorer oral health, a focus on interprofessional collaborative practice to integrate oral health in the broader healthcare context, and communication skills to deal with the diverse range of health literacy in our communities.
To read the full article, click here or refer to Dental Asia January/February 2024 issue.
