Implementing and Evaluating the Impact of a Nurse-Led Oral Care Initiative

Background:
Nursing interventions in oral hygiene have been shown to be important for health promotion and illness prevention. This medical center advanced a registered nurse (RN)-led oral health initiative to introduce and standardize oral care practices.
Problem:
To examine the impact of the oral health initiative, we conducted an evaluation of documentation trends among RNs and the effect of the initiative on patients' oral health during hospitalization.
Approach:
We used a single-group pretest-posttest design and drew a sample of all inpatients who were admitted to the medical center from October 1 through December 31, 2017.
Outcomes:
Of the 13 303 patients admitted, the empirical evidence demonstrates 99.5% compliance in documentation at admission and discharge. Among 13 237 patients, there was improvement in patients' oral health during hospitalization (−0.03, P

Source: Journal of Nursing Care Quality - February 19, 2020 Category: Nursing Tags: Articles Source Type: research