Medical and dental students build inter-professional relationships during fall workshop course

Each fall semester, first-year medical students at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University participate in a Head, Eyes, Ears, Oral Cavity, Nose and Throat (HEEONT) workshop as part of their Physical Diagnosis course.

The Department of Medicine’s Dr. Shilpa Brown, who teaches the course, worked with Drs. Ilanit Stern and Monica Chana in The Dental College of Georgia’s Department of Oral Biology and Diagnostic Sciences to have around 40 third- and fourth- year dental students demonstrate and instruct the first- year medical students to perform a head and neck exam, and oral cancer screening.

In exchange for their help, which makes the HEEONT workshop possible, the participating dental students have the opportunity to review the cranial nerve exam, as well as the remainder of the HEEONT exam. This opportunity allows them to work with and learn from the medical students and Physical Diagnosis clinical preceptors, including physicians from different medical specialties such as Internal Medicine, Rheumatology and Emergency Medicine.

“I think this was a great experience in order to close any divide that exists between dentists and physicians,” said Ryan Busch, DCG class of 2020. “As we have learned, it is critical to communicate with the patient’s physician and other specialists in order to ensure we are doing the absolute best for our patient, so starting the inter-professional relationships as soon as possible is critical.”