Raising Awareness of Oral Care Through Co-Creation: A Qualitative Evaluation Study With Patients and Healthcare Professionals in a Hospital Setting.
Charlotte Nielsen, Nadja Buch Petersson, Helene Mathilde Dalgaard and 1 others
PMID 42740587WHAT IT FOUND
Staff and patients reported more awareness of oral care after ward posters, admission goodie bags and dental hygienist support.
Patients still hesitated to ask, staff still deprioritised it, and help with brushing felt intrusive to some.
Key findings
01Ward posters, admission goodie bags and dental hygienist support made oral care more visible, and some patients began asking for toothbrushes.
02Oral care remained deprioritised during hospitalisation, and staff sometimes expected self-reliant patients to manage it even when illness made that difficult.
03Staff often felt that asking about oral care or helping with brushing was intrusive, while some patients did not, and the project gave staff a professional reason to start the conversation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was qualitative and did not measure oral health outcomes or show that the solutions improved patient care. It was conducted in four wards of one university hospital, so the findings may not transfer to other settings. Only 12 patients were interviewed, some interviews were short, and patients with cognitive or language limitations were excluded. Staff knew the oral care project, and focus groups were held in their workplace, which may have influenced how freely they spoke. Individual exposure to each component was not assessed, so the separate contribution of goodie bags, posters, key stakeholders and dental hygienists cannot be identified.
Declared interests
The research was supported by grants from the Danish Dental Hygienists' Association and the Development and Research Fund of Danish Regions. Oral care products were supplied by Sunstar/GUM and Haelon/Sensodyne, selected by the research team. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that the oral care solutions improved patient outcomes. The study was qualitative and did not measure oral health results, and it did not test which components caused change.