MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Judith Haber, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN Associate Dean, Graduate Programs The Ursula Springer Leadership Professor in Nursing New York, NY 10003 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Haber: The background of the project originally aligns with publication of the Surgeon General's Report (2000), challenging health providers to think about the "mouth as a window to the body".  More recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports, Advancing Oral Health in America (2011) and Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations (2011) highlighted the extant problems with oral health access, oral health disparities and outcomes and the potential role of the primary care workforce in addressing this population health issue.  However, there is a dearth of curricular focus on oral health in the curriculum of health professionals.  The IOM challenged the Health Resource and Service Administration (HRSA) to convene an Expert Panel to develop interprofessional oral health core clinical (IPOHCC) competencies; the report, Integrating Oral Health and Primary Care Practice, delineating the IPOHCC competencies, was published in 2014.   Our HRSA funded initiative, Teaching Oral-Systemic Health (TOSH), focuses on building interprofessional oral health workforce capacity with a special focus on the nursing, medical and dental professions.  We have operationalized the IPOHCC competencies by transforming the HEENT component of the health history, physical exam, risk assessment, diagnosis, and management plan, including collaboration and referral, to the HEENOT approach.  When a health professional uses the HEENOT approach, he or she cannot forget about oral health. (more…)