The knowledge, attitudes, and opinions of nurse practitioners about the relationship between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease
Date
2006
DOI
Authors
Sampath, Samyuktha
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the knowledge, attitudes, opinions, and awareness of nurse practitioners regarding the relationship between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. This study also determines the need for more education including CE courses on oral health, amongst the nurse practitioners.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study design, consisting of a convenience sample of nurse practitioners who attended the Northeastern Regional Nurse Practitioner Conference, in Manchester, New Hampshire, in May 2006. The survey instrument was a 19-question survey, which was handed out to the nurse practitioners. The data collected, was analyzed using Epi-info version 3.3.2, and SAS version 9.1. Frequencies for categorical variables, means for continuous variables, bivariate analyses, multivariate logistic, and multiple regression analyses were performed.
Results: The total sample size was 210, all of which (100%) was female. The study population belonged primarily to the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Overall, the nurse practitioners exhibited very high levels of knowledge and awareness, very favorable opinions, and moderately favorable attitudes, regarding the oral health of their patients in general, and the relationship between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease in particular.
Analyses of the opinion questions found that a 100% of the nurse practitioners thought that questions pertaining to oral health should be included in the medical history form. Nine out of ten nurse practitioners felt responsible for being the individual to provide oral health information to the patients. In response to the need for more education questions, three quarters of the nurse practitioners felt that they need more education regarding oral health (74.8%). The majority of the nurse practitioners thought that oral health should be addressed in the nursing (98.5%) and the nurse practitioner' s curriculum (94.2%). Adult nurse practitioners were found to be almost 5 times more likely to feel the need for more education on oral health, as compared to other specialties of nurse practitioners (95% CI= 1.4-16.2, p-value = 0.01).
Regression analysis for awareness showed that higher awareness was associated with the specialty of the nurse practitioner with adult nurse practitioners (p-value=0.0009), family nurse practitioners (p-value[less than]0.0001), pediatric nurse practitioners (p-value [less than] 0.0001), and those with dual specialties (p-value=0.008) showing a higher awareness. The specialty of nurse practitioners was again a significant predictor of attitudes with family nurse practitioners (p-value=0.02), and pediatric nurse practitioners (p-value=0.002) associated with more favorable attitudes. Linear regression analysis showed that there were no significant predictors of the knowledge variable.
In testing our hypotheses, no significant differences were seen between the nurse practitioners who graduated less than ten years ago, and those who graduated ten or more than ten years ago. Also, no differences were seen between nurse practitioners who felt they needed more education on oral health, compared to those who did not.
Conclusion: This study concludes that nurse practitioners clearly understand the presence of an oralsystemic relationship, and can be important allies to bridge the long-standing gap between oral health and general well being.
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Thesis (MSD)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2006 (Dental Public Health).
Includes bibliography: leaves 67-71.
Thesis (MSD)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2006 (Dental Public Health).
Includes bibliography: leaves 67-71.
License
This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.