Community-Based Dental Care: An Alternative Approach to Improve Access to Dental Providers
Course Number: 552
Course Contents
Conducting a Population Profile
Delivering community-based oral health care requires careful planning and consideration. No two community-based care environments are the same. The dental provider should begin by formulating a team consisting of the dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, administrator(s) and key personnel from the organization being served. This team may also include funders. It is the role of this team to determine the needs of the population and examine potential interventions to meet those needs.
Table 1 outlines some basic information that needs to be collected by the team. The team must take into consideration the population and their individual needs. Most likely the team will need to complete a population profile or community profile and needs assessment to determine the appropriate intervention. This profile will provide a thorough description of the demographics of the population to be served. This can be accomplished by examining published data, screening the oral health of individuals who will be receiving care, surveying individuals and/or guardians, surveying personnel from the location being served, and/or conducting a focus group. It is at this stage that a champion from the organization or community will be identified to help build acceptance of the program.
Table 1. Basic information to collect for a needs assessment or population profile.
- Population to be served
- Location of the population to be served
- Number in population
- Age categories
- Gender
- Demographics of the population-includes, but not limited to:
- Ethnicity
- Educational Status
- Financial Status
- Immigrant status
- Natural born citizen
- New American
- Naturalized citizen
- Religious Affiliation
- Primary affiliation
- Local gathering center for religious activities
- School system information
- Names of all schools-public and private
- Names of school officials-including school nurses
- Numbers of students at all grade levels
- Names of community colleges, technical schools and local universities
- Health status
- Oral health status-periodontal and decay experience, community water fluoridation
- Medical health status-predominant health issues
- Mechanisms for payment of health care- Medicaid, private insurance, self-pay
- Insurance status
- No insurance
- Medicaid
- Private pay
- Access to health services
- Hospital availability
- Out-patient medical clinics-private and safety net clinics
- Home health services
- Dental clinics
- Social service agencies
- County/city health departments
- Access to daily living resources
- Food pantries and meal programs
- Clothing exchanges
- GED, reading programs and other educational programs
- Local governmental and organizational structure
- Names of elected officials
- Civic organizations and names of officers
- Specific interests/projects of local government or civic organizations
When the needs have been determined, the team will begin planning a program. Figure 2 provides a list of questions that community organizations have been advised to ask dental service providers to determine the type of oral health program that will best meet the needs of individuals served by the organization. The dental provider should be well prepared to answer and discuss these questions.