Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Oral Care for Intensive Care Unit Patients

Sara Mohamed Ibrahim,Osama Omer,Amal Mohamed Mudawi

doi:10.4236/ojst.2015.57023

Sara Mohamed Ibrahim, Osama Omer + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/ojst.2015.57023

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the intensive care unit (ICU) nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practice of mouth care for their patients. This is a cross sectional hospital based study. A total of 154 ICU nurses were randomly selected from seven governmental hospitals in Khartoum state and were invited to take part in this study. 97.4% of ICU nurses had high knowledge of the importance of mouth care for ICU patients and similarly for the priority of mouth care. However, only 20% of nurses were found to apply good practice. 64.5% of the nurses received training in mouth care provision, and (81%) indicated that further training would be beneficial. The oral care practice of ICU nurses ranged between average among 57% and poor among 23%. The study highlighted the need for setting of ICU protocols and adoption of advanced training for ICU nurses.

Highlights

Quality of life and personal dignity have been reported to be affected by oral health
The objective of this work is to describe the oral health knowledge, attitude and practice performed by Intensive Care Units (ICU) nurses and to study the factors affecting the quality of mouth care for ICU patients in governmental hospitals in Khartoum state
The majority of nurses 97.4% stated that provision of oral care in ICU is important for infection prevention, while 1.3% of them related its importance to patient comfort, 1.3% did not know why mouth care is important for ICU patient

Summary

Introduction

Quality of life and personal dignity have been reported to be affected by oral health. This impact appears to be more severe in medically compromised or hospitalized patients [1] [2]. Patients in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) have very specific care needs, demanding the highest standard of professional care [6]. They may be intubated, have a nasogastric tube in place, be heavily sedated, or febrile, all. These, in turn, cause a change in oral flora and bacterial overgrowth, with the consequent loss of salivary effectiveness. Growth of potentially pathogenic bacteria in dental plaque provides a nidus of infection for microorganisms that can cause ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) [8]

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