Addressing Oral-Systemic Health Inequities in Native Americans: A Call to Action

Oral-systemic health inequities are profound for vulnerable, underserved populations particularly Native American communities. Promoting better health outcomes for Native Americans requires a healthcare workforce with cultural competency to collaborate with special populations to improve health. Health professions education must include Native American history, culture, conceptions of health, and principles of self-determination to deliver culturally sensitive care and promote health equity. Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University responded to this challenge by designing an interprofessional health sciences course where students across health professions learn about, from, and with each other to improve oral-systemic health outcomes for local American Indian communities. The purpose of this session is to present an interprofessional curriculum tailored for health professions students to promote health equity for American Indian populations. Curricular innovations include simulation-learning, community service-learning, collaborative team-based projects, and cross-cultural conversations. A variety of American Indian resources are used to explore the intersection of culture and oral-systemic health. Student learning outcomes are achieved through experiential learning, community engagement, and reflection on practice. Outcomes include specially tailored interventions to address health, education, and research needs of local Native Americans. Interprofessional learner engagement and cross-cultural exchanges with local Native Americans are effective strategies to prepare the current healthcare workforce with the competencies to address oral-systemic health inequities for Native Americans. Curriculum should be tailored to the unique history, culture and health needs of American Indian communities.