Background: Quit SA, the University Of Adelaide School Of Dentistry, and the South Australian Dental Service (SADS) joined in partnership in 2006 to design and deliver a comprehensive module for Bachelor of Oral Health students to better understand their role and develop skills associated with smoking cessation brief intervention in an oral health setting.

Strategy: Second year Bachelor of Oral Health students will undertake a specific module developed to cover a range of learning topics on smoking cessation. Staff members from partner organizations have worked together to maximize the training and education resources that already exist to produce a module for students based on best practice strategies for smoking cessation in an oral health setting. Students will be followed through during their clinical placements to assess changes in attitudes and confidence in undertaking brief intervention with clients, using the newly introduced Titanium/EXACT electronic recording tool developed at SADS.

Conclusion: The successful process of developing the module has been enabled by a number of important factors including maximizing the existing skills and resources from staff members in each contributing organization, the goodwill to partner in an effective way with short time frames, and linking in to external contributors for further expertise, including international networks. The module will be delivered to students from May 2007 and changes in knowledge, attitudes and practice will be monitored throughout 2007 and 2008.