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Oral care – identifying quality improvement areas

Maria Andersson (Department of Health Science, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden)
Bodil Wilde-Larsson (Department of Health Science, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden)
Mona Persenius (Department of Health Science, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden)

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

ISSN: 0952-6862

Article publication date: 11 February 2019

Issue publication date: 11 February 2019

530

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and compare nurses’ and healthcare assistants’ oral care quality perceptions, including perceived reality (PR) and subjective importance (SI), to identify improvement areas in intensive care and short-term care, and to explore potential nursing satisfaction predictors regarding oral care.

Design/methodology/approach

Swedish staff, 154 within intensive care and 278 within short-term care responded to a modified quality of care from a patient perspective questionnaire. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used.

Findings

Staff scored oral care quality both high and low in relation to PR and SI. Improvement areas were identified, despite high satisfaction values regarding oral care. Setting, SI and PR explained 51.5 percent of the variance in staff satisfaction regarding oral care quality.

Practical implications

Quality improvements could guide oral care development.

Originality/value

This study describes oral care by comparing nurse perceptions of how important they perceive different oral care aspects and to what extent these oral care aspects are performed.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank participants who answered the questionnaire; participating intensive care and short-term care unit nursing staff; and Jari Appelgren for valuable statistical advice and assistance.

Citation

Andersson, M., Wilde-Larsson, B. and Persenius, M. (2019), "Oral care – identifying quality improvement areas", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-09-2017-0176

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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