A Time Study Analysis of Fluoride Varnish Application in Pediatric Well-Visits to Address Health Disparities among Children
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Robert Keyser
Department
SPCEET - Industrial and Systems Engineering
Abstract
Dental decay is the most common chronic disease in children. Fluoride varnish (FV) is a preventive oral health service with proven effectiveness at reducing dental caries in dental and primary care settings. The objective of this study was to determine how long it takes to apply FV treatments during primary care well visits to address one of the most common barriers as reported by pediatricians – lack of time. FV treatment videos were collected at six clinics in Georgia with rigorous time studies conducted on each video to determine the Standard Time for the FV treatment process as well as the FV Application Component of the process and reasons for delays. Median Standard Times varied by clinic, ranging from 67.7 seconds to 166.9 seconds with an overall median of 109.7 seconds. Findings from this study support the inclusion of FV applications as a common practice during primary care well visits.
Disciplines
Dental Hygiene | Industrial Engineering | Pediatric Dentistry and Pedodontics | Systems Engineering
A Time Study Analysis of Fluoride Varnish Application in Pediatric Well-Visits to Address Health Disparities among Children
Dental decay is the most common chronic disease in children. Fluoride varnish (FV) is a preventive oral health service with proven effectiveness at reducing dental caries in dental and primary care settings. The objective of this study was to determine how long it takes to apply FV treatments during primary care well visits to address one of the most common barriers as reported by pediatricians – lack of time. FV treatment videos were collected at six clinics in Georgia with rigorous time studies conducted on each video to determine the Standard Time for the FV treatment process as well as the FV Application Component of the process and reasons for delays. Median Standard Times varied by clinic, ranging from 67.7 seconds to 166.9 seconds with an overall median of 109.7 seconds. Findings from this study support the inclusion of FV applications as a common practice during primary care well visits.