Attitudes and practices of nurses toward oral care of hospitalized patients – A cross‑sectional survey in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
نویسندگان
1 department of Nursing Administration and Education
2 Department of Pediatrics, Jordan University Hospital, Amman, Jordan,
3
4 Prosthetic Dental Sciences, AlFarabi College for Dentistry and Nursing,
5 Medical Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
6 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, AlFarabi College for Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: Oral care of hospitalized patients is an important measure that aims to maintainand promote the health of oral and dental tissues. This study aimed to investigate nurses’ attitudesand practices regarding oral care of hospitalized patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional, descriptive design was implemented. The researchinstrument was a self‑administered questionnaire that was designed and distributed among 300 nursesworking at five hospitals located in Riyadh.RESULTS: Totally, 226 questionnaires were completed (response rate: 75%). Almost allparticipants (97.8%) think that providing oral hygiene is an important element of patient care and90.7% think that nurses need to update their oral care knowledge and skills. Only 46% of the nursesreported the presence of a policy for oral care at their hospital unit and 55.3% indicated that patientsare assessed for oral health at their department. About 56.2% of participants did not receive trainingon oral assessment and provision of oral care and a few nurses (2%) received training on oral care attheir current job place. A large proportion of nurses (44%) expressed a desire to undergo training onoral care of hospitalized patients. Gender, nationality, and previous training were the most importantpredicators of a positive attitude.CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of this study indicates a positive attitude among the surveyed nursestoward provision of oral care for hospitalized patients. Current oral care practice in Saudi hospitalsis suboptimal. Saudi hospitals need to pay more efforts to train their nursing staff and issue clearpolicies and guidelines regarding oral care of hospitalized patients.
