A quality Improvement project that examines nurse’s knowledge and practice with oral health care in a rural referral hospital
Michelle Bolte1, Elaine Hall1, Tammy McMahon1, Tori Constable 11HNE, Tamworth, NSW, Australia
Oral hygiene is an essential part of patient care, and when delivered appropriately has been shown to reduce hospital acquired pneumonia. A recent survey of nurses has shown that knowledge and practice vary and directly influences the delivery of care when performing oral hygiene. The lack of knowledge has been associated with nurses perceiving oral hygiene as not important. This project aims to evaluate the nurses understanding and knowledge of oral hygiene to inform improvement strategies.
A Rural Hospital surveyed nurses in various specialties, focusing on their current knowledge, practices, and perceptions of performing oral hygiene. A review was undertaken to examine what current educational resources/policies are available to staff within the hospital.
The questionnaire revealed that there are varying degrees of knowledge and perception about oral hygiene care, resulting in non-standardised practice. Not all nurses are aware that there is a current hospital guideline to direct practices. It was identified that many experienced nurses had only received oral hygiene training at the beginning of their career. The results have informed an educational approach to address the knowledge gap.
The results have highlighted that there is a need for oral hygiene education for nurses. Most nurses don’t fully understand that poor oral hygiene can lead to hospital acquired pneumonia and longer hospital stays. Currently the information on oral hygiene is held in hospital policies. It has been identified that there is a need to create ways to present education on oral hygiene and its importance in daily patient care.
Biography
Infection Prevention Nurse Consultant Tamworth Rural Referral Hospital for past 8 years. Previous experience includes primary health nurse surgical, wound care specialist and orthopaedics CNS.
Currently mentoring Infection Prevention Link nurses in quality improvement projects and research.