Oral Hygiene in Patients with Stroke: A Best Practice Implementation Project Protocol

Abstract

Oral hygiene has been shown to reduce adverse events and promote the quality of life of patients with stroke. However, a stroke can result in the impairment of physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities, and comprise self-care. Although nurses recognize its benefits, there are areas for improvement in the implementation of the best evidence-based recommendations. The aim is to promote compliance with the best evidence-based recommendations on oral hygiene in patients with stroke. This project will follow the JBI Evidence Implementation approach. The JBI Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System (JBI PACES) and the Getting Research into Practice (GRiP) audit and feedback tool will be used. The implementation process will be divided into three phases: (i) establishing a project team and undertaking the baseline audit; (ii) providing feedback to the healthcare team, identifying barriers to the implementation of best practices, and co-designing and implementing strategies using GRIP, and (iii) undertaking a follow-up audit to assess the outcomes and plan for sustainability. So, the successful adoption of the best evidence-based recommendations on oral hygiene in patients with stroke will reduce the adverse events related to poor oral care and may improve patients’ quality of care. This implementation project has great transferability potential to other contexts.

Healthcare professionals’ perspectives on oral health care in acute stroke patients: a qualitative study

“…The HCPs emphasized the importance of oral health care in ensuring and preventing offensive odors or bad breath (halitosis) among patients with stroke. Effective oral health care has been reported to prevent complications in stroke patients, promote oral comfort, and reduce halitosis [ 9 ].…”

“…Oral health care is necessary to maintain the health of the mouth, teeth, tongue, and gums after stroke. This ideally should be part of the rehabilitative process in these patients as they have difficulty in carrying out oral health care themselves [ 9 ].…”

Oral Hygiene Practices and Oral Health Knowledge among Adult Orthodontic Patients: A Best Practice Implementation Project

“…Currently, there are no clinically available orthodontic guidelines that would standardize oral hygiene education among orthodontic patients [16,17]. The gap between the best available evidence regarding the general principles of oral hygiene in orthodontic patients to prevent dental caries and periodontal disease and its application in practice can be reduced through evidence implementation projects [18][19][20].…”