Flouride Varnish Time Studies
Disciplines
Industrial Engineering | Pediatric Dentistry and Pedodontics
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Research context: Dental decay is an important and ongoing public health concern and impacts children from low-income households and from racial and ethnic minorities at higher rates than the rest of the population. As young children are much more likely to visit a primary care provider than a dentist, including appropriate and effective preventive oral health services (POHS) at pediatric well-visits has the potential to dramatically improve children’s oral health. Fluoride varnish (FV) application is one such POHS for which insurance programs will reimburse for children in the primary care setting, yet only a small minority of physicians apply FV. The most common barrier cited is lack of time during a well-visit. Research goal: The goal of this project is to remove the primary process flow barrier (lack of time) currently dissuading physicians from providing FV during pediatric well-visits. Research methods: Our research team conducted on-site visits at six pediatric clinics in Georgia to collect videos of FV treatments among FV providers. We performed time studies on each video to determine both the total standard time for the overall fluoride varnish treatment process as well as the actual time to apply FV to children’s teeth. Regression analysis was employed to develop a predictive model for estimating total FV treatment time based on significant predictor variables, such as age, gender, provider, and clinic. Results: Our results show that it takes less than 2 minutes, on average, for the overall FV treatment process (i.e., opening the FV packet, positioning the child, talking to the child and parent(s), etc.) after obtaining parental consent, and less than 30 seconds, on average, to apply FV during a 30-minute well-visit.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
SPCEET - Industrial and Systems Engineering
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Robert Keyser
Flouride Varnish Time Studies
Research context: Dental decay is an important and ongoing public health concern and impacts children from low-income households and from racial and ethnic minorities at higher rates than the rest of the population. As young children are much more likely to visit a primary care provider than a dentist, including appropriate and effective preventive oral health services (POHS) at pediatric well-visits has the potential to dramatically improve children’s oral health. Fluoride varnish (FV) application is one such POHS for which insurance programs will reimburse for children in the primary care setting, yet only a small minority of physicians apply FV. The most common barrier cited is lack of time during a well-visit. Research goal: The goal of this project is to remove the primary process flow barrier (lack of time) currently dissuading physicians from providing FV during pediatric well-visits. Research methods: Our research team conducted on-site visits at six pediatric clinics in Georgia to collect videos of FV treatments among FV providers. We performed time studies on each video to determine both the total standard time for the overall fluoride varnish treatment process as well as the actual time to apply FV to children’s teeth. Regression analysis was employed to develop a predictive model for estimating total FV treatment time based on significant predictor variables, such as age, gender, provider, and clinic. Results: Our results show that it takes less than 2 minutes, on average, for the overall FV treatment process (i.e., opening the FV packet, positioning the child, talking to the child and parent(s), etc.) after obtaining parental consent, and less than 30 seconds, on average, to apply FV during a 30-minute well-visit.