Oral care quality in intensive care units and short-term care units : Nursing staff and older people's perspectives

Abstract: The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate oral care and its quality through the perspectives of nursing staff in intensive care units and short-term care units and from the perspectives of older people in short-term care units. Methods: The mix-method study (I) had a concurrent embedded design and was cross-sectional. Eighty-eight intensive care nurses (response rate (RR) 40%) responded to the Nursing Care related to Oral Health questionnaire, and the data were analysed with analytic statistics and qualitative content analysis. The quantitative studies (II-IV), which were also cross-sectional, included 432 nursing staff in intensive care and short-term care (RR 51–52%) and 391 older people (RR 77%) in short-term care units. Participants responded to the modified version of the Quality from Patients’ Perspective instrument and provided information about person-related conditions. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used. Main results: Intensive care nurses perceived having the antecedents, knowledge, and skills to provide optimal oral care quality, but the result indicated that they were having difficulties putting these into practice (I). Areas for improvement in oral care quality were identified in both care environments (II). Older people preferred personalised information about oral health and oral care (III). Nursing staff as well as older people’s perceptions of oral care quality and its humanity aspects, seemed to be related to person-related conditions and differed between the two care environments. In short-term care, nursing staff’s preferences for the humanity aspects of oral care quality were higher compared to older people’s preferences (IV). Conclusion: Oral care is complicated and proactive and requires registered nurses’ and other nursing staff’s attention as well as educational and organisational initiatives. Many older people were assessed to have oral health problems. With early identification and optimal oral care, unnecessary suffering might be prevented. The identified quality improvement areas might guide RNs, nurse managers, and other nursing staff to further oral care quality development.