Performance of oral care and its education among nurses at pediatric-related wards and associated factors

Abstract

 This study aimed to investigate the performance of oral care and its education for pediatric patients and their families among nurses working at the pediatric wards, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and growing care unit (GCU), as well as identify the factors associated with those performances. Questionnaires regarding the performance of oral care and its education were distributed to 380 nurses in six university hospitals. Among them, 280 nurses participated in the survey. The percentage of oral care performance for pediatric patients was 11.4％-24.8％ among pediatric ward nurses and 27.3％ among NICU or GCU nurses. Regarding the performance of oral care education for their guardian, pediatric ward nurses attained 1.4％-29.3％, and NICU or GCU nurses attained 0.7％-41.0％. The performance of oral care and its education were associated with perceptions of the importance of performing these tasks and cooperation with other professionals and were interrelated.