AIM: This paper is a report of a study evaluating the effect of a repeated education programme for nursing staff in a home for older people. BACKGROUND: A strong relationship exists between oral infections and general health complications (especially aspiration pneumonia) among nursing home residents and hospitalized older people. Thus, nursing staff need to be educated in oral hygiene measures. METHODS: Forty-three nursing home resident older people (12 men, 31 women, age range 69-99 years) were included in a dental hygiene and gingivitis evaluation using gingival bleeding scores and modified plaque scores. Evaluation was conducted before and 3 weeks after a repeated dental hygiene education for nursing staff at a nursing home in Sweden in 2008. Dental hygiene education had been given 1.5 years previously. FINDINGS: Forty-one residents (12 men and 29 women) were available for evaluation after the repeated dental hygiene education (one died, one had had teeth extracted). There was a reduction in gingival bleeding scores (P
AIM: This paper is a report of a study evaluating the long-term effects on the oral hygiene status of older nursing home residents one and a half years after dental hygiene education was given to the staff. BACKGROUND: A strong relationship exists between oral infections and general health complications (especially aspiration pneumonia) among nursing home residents and hospitalized older people. It is therefore important to educate nursing home staff in oral hygiene measures and to follow up the effects of the education over time. METHODS: Dental plaque measurements were conducted at a Swedish nursing home in 2006-2008. Forty-one residents (12 men, 31 women, aged 69-99 years) fulfilled the inclusion criteria and participated in a dental hygiene evaluation 1.5 years after dental hygiene education was given to the staff at the nursing home. Plaque index scores (year 2008) were compared to those soon after the education (year 2006). FINDINGS: After the dental hygiene education in 2006, 60 nursing home residents (14 men, 46 women) were available for plaque index measurements, whereas 41 residents (12 men, 29 women) were available 1.5 years later. The median plaque index scores were 17.0 (n = 60) in 2006, and 18.0 (n = 41) in 2008 (Mann-Whitney U-test, P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Dental hygiene education for nursing home staff is important to maintain an adequate level of oral hygiene among older nursing home residents over time. Follow-up of dental hygiene education for nursing home staff is recommended to maintain a sufficient level of oral hygiene among the residents.
The aim of this survey was to test the impact of an oral hygiene educational model on attitudes and perceptions toward oral hygiene among nursing home staff members. A pilot questionnaire was distributed to the nursing staff before and after a course on oral hygiene at a geriatric nursing home in Stockholm in 2008. The nursing staff was of the opinion that they had sufficient time to carry out oral hygiene tasks but considered such tasks unpleasant, mainly because of unwillingness and resistance from the residents. These attitudes and perceptions among the nursing staff did not change significantly after oral hygiene education. Future oral hygiene educational models need to be developed with an aim to alter the perceptions and behavior of the nursing home staff.
