Perception and barriers to quality oral healthcare in hospitalised patients at a teaching hospital in Nigeria: The nurses experience.

Abstract

Background: Oral healthcare is one aspect of healthcare that’s more often neglected in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to explore nurses’ perception of oral health in hospitalised patients and also to ascertain the nurse’s barriers to quality oral care during their routine nursing procedures.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria. A proportional sampling method was used to select respondents and well-structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 21. Chi square test was used to determine association between variables and statistical significance was set at p<0.05 for all statistical association.

Results: Nurses' perception to oral health importance in patients was good (54.4%), but better among females (55.4%). Nurse perception increased with increasing level of education: Diploma 34.7%, Bachelor 60.0% and postgraduate 65.6%. Nurses perception also increased with years of experience; < 1 year 41,7%, 1-5 years 56.5%, 6-10 years 60.5% and >10 years 61.5%

The study showed that 82.7% of the respondents identified one form of barrier or the other in rendering quality oral healthcare. These barriers cut across all the sociodemographic variables. Lack of oral care equipment (64.8%), shortage of nurses (46.3%), high workload (42.6%) and time constraint (35.8%) were the major barriers identified in this study.

Conclusion: The nurses’ perception to quality Oral Healthcare Care in hospitalised patients was good and identified barriers to quality Oral Healthcare if adequately addressed, will go a long way in improving the quality of Oral Healthcare in hospitalised patients by nurses.