2015 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 136-144
We carried out systematic oral care for stroke patients from the acute stage, and found that their ADL and prognosis improved. We standardized the oral care to include many occupational descriptions. Seventy patients in 2010 before the standardization were classified as a control group, and 127 persons in 2012 who received the standardized care were classified as the interposition group.
We compared seven items in the two groups: aspiration pneumonia, pyrexia, intubation or tracheotomy, gastrostomy, grade of swallowing performance, status of daily activity, and rate of discharge to home care. The occurrence of pyrexia fell significantly by this intervention and aspiration pneumonia also decreased. Although there was no improvement of swallowing grade by our intervention, we reduced significantly the number of gastrostomies and increased the performance status of daily activity at the time of discharge, and also the discharge rate. It is suggested that the potential of oral care to maintain oral hygiene and increase the probability of eating leads to modification of the QOL-oriented behavior of patients, family members and medical staff.
