2007 Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 123-129
【Purpose】Patients with swallowing disorder often need respiratory physiotherapy due to retention of secretion. However, drainage of secretion can not be effectively obtained when the condition is complicated by marked dryness in the oral cavity or upper respiratory tract. We noticed that oral care immediately before respiratory physiotherapy is good to drain the secretion. So the aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of oral care to the respiratory physiotherapy on airway clearance.
【Subjects and Methods】The subjects were 25 inpatients (23 males, and 2 females aged 81.4 years) with aspiration pneumonia who were receiving oral care and respiratory physiotherapy in our hospital between January 2004 and February 2005. Respiratory physiotherapy alone or that combined with oral care immediately before was randomly performed to the subjects on 2 consecutive days. Oral care was performed by the same dental hygienists and respiratory physiotherapy by the same physical therapists, and secretion was finally removed by suctioning. Under the above two conditions, the amount and properties of sputum, easiness of the suctioning procedure using the 100 mm visual analog scale（VAS）were evaluated. ln the oral cavity, the degree of oral dryness was evaluated.
【Results and Discussion】The amount of sputum with oral care group showed significantly larger（p＜0.01）than that without oral care group. And the suctioning in the group with oral care is significantly（p＜0.01）easier than in without oral care group assessed by the VAS. When there were severe oral dryness and purulent sputum, the amount of sputum significantly increased, and the easiness of the suctioning procedure significantly improved in the group with oral care. The improvement in the group with oral care may be because of moistening of the oral cavity, pharynx, and upper respiratory tract after oral care, facilitating secretion flow. When there are severe oral dryness and purulent sputum, oral care just before the respiratory physiotherapy may be useful in clinical setting.
