One of the most frequently emphasized topics in my studies at UBC Dental Hygiene program was cultural sensitivity. Cultural sensitivity was a huge issue in healthcare professions, especially in areas like Vancouver where multiculturalism was evident and various naturopathic/cultural remedies were prevalent. In addition, UBC dental clinic served for populations from diverse cultural backgrounds. Most of these populations are recent immigrants and low-socioeconomic populations with low English literacy. The issue of prevalent low English literacy prevalent among my clients, I often had challenges of obtaining informed consent, especially the one in which the clients had to provide their understandings of dental hygiene diagnosis and treatment plans. Such difficulties happening during informed consent procedure, which is a crucial element of care for both

Understanding cultural sensitivity helped to build a good rapport with a Korean client.

legal and ethical reasons, intrigued me to perform a pilot study at UBC dental clinic regarding the efficacy of translated consent forms to increase the understanding of informed consent in cohorts with low English literacy. The study were conducted among 50 clients from Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Punjabi backgrounds using translated survey forms and informed consent. The cohorts were asked to read the original English informed consent for care and to fill out a survey from that asked what were their current English literacy (low, medium, high) and whether they understood the original consent form (10-20%; 20-40%; 40-60%; 60-80%; and 80-100%). Later, they were asked to read the translated versions of the original consent forms and asked fill out another survey form that asked whether their understanding of the information written on the informed consent has increased (10-20%; 20-40%; 40-60%; 60-80%; and 80-100%); whether they found the translated versions were helpful; and whether UBC Dental clinic should have the translated version in conjunction with the original informed consent.  The result showed that the understanding had significantly increased the understanding of the information written on the informed consent by more than 70% and about 85% of the cohort responded that UBC Dental clinic should implement translated versions of the informed consent for ethical and cultural-sensitive reasons. The pilot study showed significantly positive results in the cohort and highlighted the potential use for translated informed consent form in addition to the regular English informed consent in dental practices serving for similar cohorts. This experience helped me to be a better healthcare professional by understand the importance of language and cultural-sensitivity in obtaining informed consent. With this knowledge, I currently use translating programs to increase my clients’ knowledge about informed consent processes, to build better rapport, and to provide more culturally sensitive care.

Alendronate is a type of bisphosphonate used for osteoporosis patients. Use of bisphosphonate has been negatively viewed among dental professionals, as there has been evidence of bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis of jaw. Recently, there have been researches on use of alendronate as a therapeutic mechanism for chronic and aggressive periodontitis. So far the initial human-researches suggest positive outcomes of alendronate as the anti-osteoclast property of the chemical reduced the progression of the periodontal diseases. Although the research was at a preliminary phase, as a dental hygiene professional, I believe that by following up with current research would help me to gain various perspectives regarding periodontics-related topics, especially controversial issues like the use of alendronate. These creative treatments for periodontitis might later expand our scope of practice in conjunction with traditional periodontal therapy, which will increase my professionalism.

Over the summer of 2013, I had one of the most exceptional experiences at an interdisciplinary health science course about how to interact with clients with HIV/AIDS.

Insite addiction clinic at Vancouver Downtown Eastside. Photo from: fullcomment.nationalpost.com

The course was a combination of lectures regarding medical, nursing, dietetic, social work, public health, and dental aspects for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as community rotations at various sites. It also incorporated a Problem-Based-Learning (PBL) team assignment in which student from the listed healthcare backgrounds congregated as a team and discussed about given situations of a Native woman with an addiction problem. All the lectures increased my professionalism by increasing my understanding of different healthcare professions, which would help me to refer my clients for appropriate cares in the futures. The community rotations also helped to build my professionalism by increasing the true impact of social determinants of health on lifestyle and health status of people. I got a chance to visit single-room-occupancy hotels, an addiction-specialized pharmacy, and an addiction in Vancouver Downtown Eastside. From those visits, I could directly interact with the people who are living in sheer poverties and addiction problems, which helped to gain their perspectives of their situations and rationales why they were in those situations (majorly social and upbringing issues). Learning how social and upbringing issues impacted other aspects of social determinants of health, especially their choices for lifestyle such as drug/alcohol addiction, changed my conceptions of people living in Downtown Eastside and with HIV/AIDS. These experiences broke down my prejudices and misconceptions of those living with various physical, mental, and social difficulties which would help me to grow as a healthcare professional who could better connect with those individuals and better cater customized care for them.

Building rapport with an elder at Broadway Lodge

Broadway Pentacoastal Lodge was a long-term care facility that provided integrated healthcare services for elders who required living-assistance and palliative care. The demographic of the residents and staff members were from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Such aspect was a great opportunity to understand how facility provided culturally-sensitive care and how different professions with different backgrounds could work as an integrated care team such as participating in Care Conferences. Although I had contacted doctors regarding medical conditions and medications for my previous clients at UBC dental clinic, I never had an experience to interact with other healthcare professionals face-to-face. The Care Conferences included a case manger, MD, RN, LPN, a dietician, a recreational therapist, and a chaplain who presented their perspectives for each elder. One time, I had a case in which the elder has a malfunctioned, infected denture so that the elder was advised not to wear the denture until the issue would be resolved. When I presented that case, as an integrated healthcare team, I would work with the dietitian so that the elder would maintain good nutrition from blend food diet. This unique experience of being a part of an integrated team helped me to build up my professionalism because I learned scope of practices of different healthcare professionals, how they communicate/work as an integrated team in a long-term care facility, and how as a dental hygiene student, I could contribute to improve not only oral health but also overall health of the elders.