Relationship between work duties and years of experience of dental hygienists providing dental house calls in Hiroshima Prefecture

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the work duties and issues of dental hygienists engaged in dental house calls in Hiroshima Prefecture and to elucidate the differences based on their years of experience providing this service. In January 2023, we conducted a questionnaire of 446 members of the Hiroshima Prefecture Dental Hygienists’ Association along with dental hygienists at 406 dental institutions across Hiroshima Prefecture who had actually gone on dental house calls in 2021. The questionnaire covered age, years of experience in dental house calls, work duties, and work issues. The results were analyzed by categorizing them into three groups based on years of experience. The analysis covered a total of 203 dental hygienists engaged in dental house calls (mean age: 45.5 ± 12.9 years). The most common jobs of these dental hygienists were “Oral observation” (95.6%), “Oral hygiene management” (89.6%), and “Oral cleaning instruction” (88.5%). The jobs that showed significant differences based on years of experience were “Instruction on cleaning and handling dentures” (p = 0.011) and “Dysphagia training / Training for oral function improvement” (p = 0.006). The most common work challenge was “Interprofessional collaboration” (80.3%), and the challenge that was significantly related to years of experience was “Training other staff” (p = 0.047). In conclusion, the most common job among dental hygienists engaged in dental house calls in Hiroshima Prefecture was oral hygiene management, and both dentures management and oral function improvement training were associated with their years of experience. Furthermore, this study showed that training other staff is a challenge, indicating a need to enhance training based on years of experience.