Transcript Company Meeting Title

Where do we go from here?
RADM Dushanka V. Kleinman
Assistant Surgeon General
Chief Dental Officer,
United States Public Health Service
Department of Health and Human Services
Basic Assumptions
Other health professions, education and
social service communities are key to
oral health
The private and public sectors of
dentistry comprise the nation’s dental
public health response.
Dentistry is an essential component of
public health and health care services.
Department of Health and Human Services
How do we get involved from here?
1. Join existing and emerging systems
and programs
2. Partake in planning
3. Identify, and prepare for, scope of roles
and responsibilities
4. Remove barriers
5. Accelerate knowledge transfer
6. Partner
7. Evaluate
Department of Health and Human Services
Join existing and emerging
systems and programs
Are you familiar
with local plans in
your area?
What are your
state plans?
Bring together
national organizations
and federal agencies
that are supporting
your efforts:
- to facilitate
leveraging
- to ensure continued
support
Department of Health and Human Services
Align with existing movements:
Public health preparedness requires us to:
Strengthen public
health infrastructure
for surveillance and
outbreak response
• epi expertise
• lab capability
• computer connectivity
Support public
health/health care
community
partnerships
Renew commitment to
increase global
disease surveillance
and public health
Ensure ability to
recognize and report
symptoms
Support research
• M.A.Hamburg
• Nuclear Threat Initiative
• Science 2002:295;1425
Department of Health and Human Services
Partake in Planning
Plan at the local, state, national and global
levels
Bring a range of skills to planning: health
care, health education, administration and
community service
Stimulate new roles for dentistry
Contribute to interdisciplinary work
Department of Health and Human Services
Planning will require linking
across disciplines and sectors
Dental
Medical
Nursing
Pharmacy
Engineering
Social work
Dietician
Health
Dietician
Education
Social
Cultural
Environmental
Department of Health and Human Services
Using Essential Public Health Functions to
Take Next Steps
ASSESSMENT
Evaluate Monitor
(Examination
ASSURANCE
Health
Assure
& Diagnosis)
(Treatment &
Competent
Follow-up)
Workforce
Link
to / Provide
Care
Enforce
Laws
Diagnose &
Investigate
RESEARCH
Develop
Policies
“Public Health in America,” Public Heath
Functions Steering Committee, 1994.(Adapted)
Inform,
Educate,
Empower
Mobilize
Community
Partnerships
POLICY
DEVELOPMENT
(Treatment Plan)
Department of Health and Human Services
Identify roles and responsibilities
For the profession
For integrating within systems and
programs
For other partners
Department of Health and Human Services
Remove Barriers
Change the perception of dentistry
and its potential role (within
profession and beyond)
Enhance profession’s response by
extending information technology
capacity
Address limitations related to
legislation, liability
Department of Health and Human Services
Accelerate knowledge transfer
Educate, educate, educate
• ourselves
• our patients
• our communities
Build risk communication skills
Link with existing education and training
efforts
Streamline information sources
Contribute to overall health literacy
Department of Health and Human Services
Partner
Maximize networking and communication
Establish a common platform across
professions
Take advantage of, and learn from, different
disciplines, locations and roles
Maintain flexibility
Integrate, integrate, integrate
Be“at the table”. This requires a “push-pull”
approach among partners
Department of Health and Human Services
Evaluate
How will our efforts be directed,
monitored, redesigned?
What are our outcome measures?
How will the effectiveness,
accessibility and quality of our efforts
be evaluated?
Department of Health and Human Services
Call for Products
Materials for presentations
Courses for students and practitioners
Certification of dental public health teams
“Public health guide” for dental offices
Start-up Kit for individuals/for organizations:
who to contact, how to get started
Approaches for rural geographic sites
Information networks
Research
Recording, and record keeping
Department of Health and Human Services
Call for Plan of Action
Where are we now?
Where do we need to be?
How do we get there?
Department of Health and Human Services
As a profession, it’s all about
health and our future.
(The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century (IOM, 2003))
Adopt a population
health approach
Strengthen public
health infrastructure
Build new
generation of
intersectoral
partnerships
Develop systems of
accountability
Make evidence the
foundation of
decision making
Enhance and
facilitate
communication
Department of Health and Human Services
“Some say that knowledge is
superior to action. Others say that
action is superior to knowledge.
Both are wrong. Unless knowledge is
tied to action, it is not deserving the
recompense.”
-al-Huhwari, 11th century Sufi saint
Department of Health and Human Services