Background: In a macrocosminc view dental care in most countries is expansive, and the prevalence of dental caries and oral cancer is elevated throughout the world. Peridontal disease is one of the most common oral ailments. In a microcosmic view, oral health comorbidities are increased in individuals older than 18 years in the United States and include peridontal disease and decaying of the teeth. Fortunately, the edentulous patient is decreasing in America. On a community level hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) affects approximately 200,000 people per year and is the most common hospital-acquired infection. Recently on Utah Valley Hospital’s 9th floor, oral care has been provided to patients only 10.24% of the time, putting patient at risk of HAP, malnutrition, and joint replacement/heart valve replacement infections, as well as other comorbidities such as diabetes and peridontal disease. Framework: The frameworks utilized in this study include Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory and Iowa evidence-based practice model. They guided the implementeation of the realization for needed change, assisted in asking a question, and helped to employ strategies to initiate a culture of change on the specific hospital unit. Methods: This project’s objective was to implement an oral care intervention, with nursing staff, to determine if an increase in oral care compliance for patients could be assesssed. An educational in-service was provided at which the nursing staff were educated by the project manager and a dental hygienist to assess oral care in the patient’s oral cavity. The nursing staff were given a survey to assess barriers to oral care. The Oral Health Assessment Tool was given to nursing staff to assist in assessing the patient’s mouth, create oral care goals for the patient throughout the day, and chart when oral care was completed. They utilized this tool for two weeks after the initiation of the in-service. After which a post-project questionnaire was utilized to assess nursing staff opinion of what was beneficial/hindering in this project. Utilization of patient chart audits was utilized two weeks prior to and two weeks after the in-service to assess if the intervention showed an increase in oral care compliance. Findings/Results: No significant difference was assessed between the two independent variable groups. With an alpha value of 0.05, U=11855.5, z=-1.54, and p=.12 it has been found that there was no significant difference between the independent groups and their outcome variable. With this information, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. Conclusion/Patient Outcome: Oral care compliance charting did not increase after educational in-service and implementation of an oral assessment tool. The main barriers to oral care assessed were lack of time, high workload and low priority. Benefits of this project assessed from nursing staff included implementation of an oral health assessment tool and an educational in-service describing oral care necessities. Limitations included COVID-19 patient admissions, nursing burnout, and nursing workload. Going forward, the inclusion of patient care technicians may be necessary to assess and increase in charting compliance.
