Abstract
The objective of this study is to describe oral care nursing practices among care providers at three type of long-term care facilities in Japan. The subjects were nursing supervisors and the survey was conducted with a mailed anonymous self-response questionnaire. We sent the questionnaires to 2,947 facilities by mail, and subsequently 800 facilities completed and returned them, which yielded a 27.1% collection rate. Seven hundred forty valid responses, 25.1% of the 2,947 questionaries, were analyzed. The results showed：the positive response for " is oral hygiene care one of the qualityʼs indicators used by Virginia Henderson?" was 80.4%；there was insufficient education for nurses, nursing assistants, certified care workers and caregivers, less than 20% of the long-term care facilities used an oral assessment；less than half of the long-term care facilities had an oral care nursing procedure. More than 90% of the long-term care facilities had cooperated with dental professionals, but only 40.3% of the long-term care facilities had calculated the oral function maintenance system points and 15.7% had calculated the oral function maintenance points. Comparing the results among 3 types of long-term care facilities, medical long-term care Sanatoriums had a higher percentage of standardized nursing oral care procedures because more nurses were employed than the other facilities, and they provided oral care. The challenge of nursing management practices for oral care in the future is to improve the education system for facility staff including nurses and other care workers, create an oral assessment and nursing procedures for oral care, and improve co-operation with dental professionals.
