An evaluation of the oral care given to patients when staying in hospital.

The aim of this preliminary clinical audit was to use the resource of patients attending medical or dental practices to conduct a survey into the experiences of those who had been hospital in-patients as to their opinion of the oral care provided. A self-completing questionnaire was used. All 33 respondents were unable to carry out their own oral hygiene for 21 different reasons. The period of this disability was at least one week for 51% and over three weeks for 12%. A total of 40% were full-denture wearers, 30% had their own teeth and partial dentures and 30% had natural teeth only. Fifty-two per cent were not asked if they required any assistance with oral care. None of the patients with full or partial dentures had them cleaned after meals. Of those with full dentures 80% did not have their dentures cleaned at night; the corresponding figures for those with partial dentures (60%) and those with their own teeth and no dentures (69%) showed a similar lack of care. Over 72% rated the oral care given in hospital worse than that which they were able to provide for themselves at home. As a result of this preliminary audit, an interface audit across all the hospitals and residential nursing homes of north and east Devon has been set up to investigate the provision of oral care and to set up procedures to address any deficiencies found. The conclusions from this preliminary audit reinforce recent research into the training of nurses in oral care which found that this was inadequate and that awareness of oral need was minimal.