Department of Health
Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower Room 878Albany , NY 12237
Division/Unit: DFH/Bureau of Child Health
Web Site: http://www.health.ny.gov
Department of Health
Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower Room 878Division/Unit: DFH/Bureau of Child Health
Web Site: http://www.health.ny.gov
Description:
Dental caries, tooth decay, is the most common chronic disease among children. In New York State (NYS), more than 45% of third grade children have had a history of tooth decay. Despite being a preventable disease, 23% and 10% of 2-5 year-old children in the United States (US) have caries experience and untreated caries, respectively. Dental caries in children less than six years of age is known as early childhood caries (ECC). Approximately 90% of children under three years of age, enrolled in NYS Medicaid for at least 90 consecutive days, and 51.5% of those between three and five years of age, did not receive any dental care during 2014.
Expanding the pool of health care professionals providing preventive dental services to children under six years of age will facilitate the provision of prevention interventions at an earlier age and obtain more timely treatment services, especially given the fact that children, as part of routine well-baby care, visit primary care health providers 11 times prior to their third birthday. Primary care providers can play a significant role in reducing the burden of ECC by providing preventive oral health care during well child visits. Integrating oral health evaluations into well-child visits will allow for children to receive oral health risk assessment, counseling, preventive services (including fluoride varnish), early detection and referral.
In September 2016, the NYS Department of Health (DOH) received a two-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to address the oral health workforce in NYS. One of the goals of the grant is to "Increase the capacity of primary care providers to integrate oral health into primary care and to deliver evidence-based preventive clinical dental services to high risk young children." The associated objectives include:
* Objective 1.1: By June 31, 2017, recruit and train pediatric medical providers from at least 50% of community health centers in Dental HPSAs to deliver oral health screenings, education and fluoride varnish applications for young children 0 to 5 years of age.
* Objective 3.2: By June 31, 2017, convene a Learning Collaborative for pediatric medical providers participating in the training program (Objective 1.1) to successfully integrate oral health into their practice.
The NYSDOH Bureau of Child Health (BCH) is currently developing the Medical-Dental Integration (MDI) Project which consists of two phases. Phase I is the recruitment and training of pediatric medical providers at community health centers (CHC) from across NYS. Providers will be trained on how to deliver oral health screenings, education and fluoride varnish applications for young children 0 to 5 years of age. Phase II is the convening of a Learning Collaborative for the CHCs that participated in the training program. The Collaborative will further facilitate the integration of oral health into primary care practice. The BCH is looking to launch the MDI Learning Collaborative in September 2017.
The proposed Summer 2017 internship project is the development and planning of the MDI Learning Collaborative. The major focus of the internship project will be assisting BCH in the development of the core infrastructure of the Collaborative including the aim statement, performance measures, measurement strategy, Driver Diagram, Recruitment and Pre-Work Packet, Change Package, and curriculum.
BCH is flexible in scheduling options as long as the student is able to commit and finish the project within the given semester (480 hours). Forty hours per week is preferred.
Skills:
Excellent Verbal/Written Communication
Work Independently
Understanding of Quality Improvement
Internship Areas: Health Services, Health/Nutritional Services, Planning/Analysis/Research
Payment? Unpaid
Number of Hours: 30 or more
Location: Albany
Number of Interns Needed: 1
Preferred Standing Graduate Student
Minimum Standing: Graduate Student
Degree Concentrations: Health Services