Friday, August 03, 2012
London Health Sciences Centre
New Oral Health Care Initiative
LHSC is the first hospital in the region to implement a tool to assess the acute care oral health of inpatients.
“Often times oral care assessment was being overlooked based on the acuity of the patient. Other issues were getting attention, while oral care was suffering, and often providing good oral care would help the patient’s quality of life immensely,” says Penney Letsos, Speech-Language Pathologist.
Clinical Neurological Sciences (CNS) at University Hospital, LHSC developed an oral care assessment tool out of their Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Council, a shared governance model established by Professional Scholarly Practice to empower front-line staff.
“The beauty of this innovative model of CQI councils is that we enable the people at the point of care, who have the specific knowledge of the issues and the solutions, to implement the changes necessary to increase the quality and safety of care delivery,” says Dr. Vanessa Burkoski, Vice-President, Professional Practice and Chief Nursing Executive, LHSC.
Within 24 hours of being admitted, all CNS patients have a complete oral and dental assessment, including screening for signs and symptoms of dental disease, level of oral care needed, and appliance (i.e. denture) assessment. After assessment, the oral care needs are addressed either by the patient if capable, or with the assistance of the health care provider. This includes the cleaning of the teeth, tongue, palate, cheeks and lips, through brushing and/or flossing, mouthwash and suctioning.
“Our CNS patient population is vulnerable and the biggest risk for aspiration pneumonia is actually from the bacteria growing in their mouths. By cleaning their mouth properly, we reduce the risk substantially,” says Lynda Ryall-Henke, Clinical Educator, CNS.
“This kind of care and attention is fantastic,” says Dennis Hockey, 65-year-old CNS patient, who was admitted to LHSC after having difficulty swallowing and changes to his speech. Denise Martins, RN, has been actively helping Hockey with good oral care daily, which is helping to reduce his risk for aspiration and improving his ability to communicate.
“We hope to have better outcomes down the road for our patients,” says Letsos.
This is only one of the over 96 initiatives that have grown out of CQI councils. The CQI committee will continue to document and review their assessment tool throughout the summer.
Media Contact:
Sarah Muto
Corporate Communications and Public Relations
London Health Sciences Centre
519-685-8500 ext 77062
sarah.muto@lhsc.on.ca
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