Vandana Bhagat

Building future workforce capability: Nursing students’ attitude and knowledge towards geriatric oral healthcare in Australia and strategies to improve their competency.

Good oral health is essential for general wellbeing, yet oral health diseases are a major public health problem especially among vulnerable and underserved population. The oral health of older people living in residential aged care homes in Australia has been widely identified as poor. The growing number of older people together with the increase in people who have retained their own teeth has raised concerns for policy makers to address the service gaps in the provision of effective oral healthcare to older people. One of the major challenges toward integration of oral care in overall health management is the lack of awareness, understanding and representation of oral health component among non-dental professionals (nurses, general practitioners, and other allied healthcare professionals).  Nurses who are often primary health care providers and make the largest proportion of health professionals can play an important role in improving the oral health services delivery to older people with proper oral health education and training. Understanding the current attitude and understanding of nursing students towards oral healthcare of older people will provide evidence upon which future nursing curricula could be build to promote significance of oral health in maintaining overall health.