Please join us on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7:30 pm (EST) for a webinar on "Oral Care – We Can Change Practice.".
When asked, Nurses almost always say that oral care is not as well done as it should be in their practice settings! This they say is usually due to lack of supplies at bedside, workload, lack of knowledge or noncompliance to care given. As Oral Care significantly impacts a person’s wellbeing and health; Nurses need to ensure that Oral Care is done properly. (Uferguson 2000-present)
"Oral care or mouth care is one of the most basic nursing activities. Keeping the mouth and teeth clean will protect a patient’s oral health and allow quicker recovery by preventing infections." "Nurses should be aware of risk factors associated with poor oral health and be able to assess and help patients maintain oral hygiene." (Maria Mona 2018) Significance of Oral Hygiene on Health- It is an expectation by both clients and families that when entering a health care provider’s office, hospital, long-term facility or receiving care within the home, that the individual’s health care needs will be met; however, there is evidence that oral health care is not addressed to the same level as other care needs (Frenkel, Harvey & Needs, 2002)- taken from RNAO BPG on Oral Health.
Presenter: Una Ferguson RN (non practicing) first studied and researched the problems with nurse doing oral care when doing her RNAO fellowship: Transferring Nursing Knowledge with the exemplar Oral Care. She taught oral health during her 17 years in continuing complex care and in her 17 years in LTC mental health. Even though she is now retired, she still advocates for good dental and oral care for elderly and marginalized populations.