ROLE OF NURSING STAFF IN ORAL CARE OF DEPENDENT HOSPITALIZED ELDERLY

Abstract

Aim: The authors assessed the role of Paulo de Tarso Beneficient Association nursery team referring to oral/prosthesis hygiene practices. They also evaluate the factors involved when the nurse team didn´t perform their role in dependent patients.

Material and methods: The data were obtained by means of a previous tested questionnaire submitted to all employees. The data was submitted to descriptive analysis and compared by Pearson square qui test.

Results: The range of ages of people in the study varied from 21 to 56 years, most of them women (72.2%). 83.3% of people who answered the questionnaire had studied for 12 years, 48.1% had worked for at least 5 years and 61.1% worked only in this institution., most – 57.4%- during daily hours. Those workers took care of at least 7 dependent patients – 74.1% - or more than 7- 25.9% of them. 92.6% of those who answered the questionnaire had knowledge of oral hygiene/prosthesis. 83.3% had knowledge of prosthesis. In spite of this, 51.9% answered they did not perform this type of task.

Conclusions:  We concluded that when the workers took care of more than 7 patients and had to work in night shifts they couldn´t perform oral hygiene/prosthesis adequately.