Mouth care training and practice: a survey of nursing staff working in National Health Service hospitals in England

Background: This study investigated the training and mouth care practice of nursing staff in hospital Trusts across England. Oral health has been found to deteriorate during hospital admission, mouth care standards have been found to be poor.

Aims: The objectives of the study were to assess if and what the barriers are to supporting inpatients' mouth care, and to assess how confident nursing staff are in carrying out mouth care assessments and mouth care and see if this is related to previous training.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted in 33 Trusts in England with 1576 members of the nursing team including nurses and nursing assistants. Nursing staff were asked to complete a questionnaire on previous oral health training and their current practice.

Results: Nursing staff reported that they had limited training in mouth care. The main barriers to mouth care were time and patient compliance. Confidence in recognising oral cancer was low.

Conclusions: Nursing staff would benefit from mouth care training targeted at assessing the mouth and providing mouth care for all inpatients.