Dryad
Novosel, Navia;
Fratarcangeli, Greta;
Randhawa, Jasdip;
Novosel, Olivia;
Sibbald, Shannon
—
2020-12-02
<p>Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the world. Emerging concepts like One Health, integrated models for COPD, and associations between oral and respiratory health are innovative ways to approach COPD treatment. This study explored contemporary evidence on the inclusion of dental providers on interprofessional healthcare teams treating patients with COPD. The first objective was to explore the current state of interprofessional care for COPD treatment, and the second objective was to explore dentistry used in interprofessional care scenarios. A rapid review was conducted from March–June 2020 using Scopus and PubMed. Upon assessing for duplication and relevance, 85 articles remained for Objective 1, and 194 for Objective 2. The literature strongly suggests that dental providers should be included on interprofessional healthcare teams to best approach COPD as a multi-morbid, chronic disease. The papers collected for review claim that educational and clinical hospital programs should implement interprofessional collaboration when treating chronic diseases. Healthcare teams can utilize the expertise of professionals outside the medical field to better understand their patients’ needs. Healthcare administration should consult a One Health framework when developing COPD treatment guidelines. These proposed recommendations are feasible and transferable to the Canadian healthcare system; however, it is anticipated that implementation will be gradual. The collaborative nature of a One Health approach exposes novel ways to develop treatment guidelines that effectively address the burden of COPD.</p>