Nurses’ Perceptions of Oral Health Care Provision After the COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

\n OBJECTIVE\n This study aimed to investigate nurses’ perceptions of oral healthcare provision to inpatients in Japanese hospitals and the infection control measures taken by them after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown, to promote collaborative oral healthcare in hospitals.\n \n METHOD\n The participants were 1,037 nurses working in inpatient wards at four hospitals in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, approximately six months after the COVID-19 lockdown.\n \n RESULTS\n More than 90% of the 734 nurses participating in this study positively perceived the preventive effect of oral healthcare on aspiration pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and viral infection. However, approximately half of them had negative perceptions about their knowledge and confidence regarding the control of COVID-19 with oral healthcare provision, and 84.7% expected to be provided with the necessary information by oral health professionals. Further, 537 nurses (73.2%) provided oral healthcare to their patients; nine nurses (1.7%) responded that those patients who received oral healthcare decreased after the lockdown; and 12 (2.4%) responded that they could no longer collaborate with oral health professionals because of the lockdown. Additionally, 41.7 % of them used neither protective glasses nor face shields even after the lockdown.\n \n CONCLUSIONS\n This study showed that almost all the nurses positively perceived the effect of oral healthcare on the prevention of viral infection and pneumonia. However, some nurses perceived that their oral healthcare provision and collaborative oral healthcare were negatively affected. It also showed that most nurses’ knowledge, confidence, and use of infection control measures were insufficient. This study proposes that oral health professionals should support nurses in providing oral healthcare by providing them with information on COVID-19 infection control measures to prevent infection transmission through oral healthcare.\n