Does mouth care stress you out? Follow these tips for better mouth care in your facility.
- Use TRANSPARENT LANGUAGE
- Talk about MOUTH care instead of oral care.
- Talk about FACTS
- Good mouth care can PREVENT 1 in 10 pneumonias***
- Brush 2 mins 2x a day
- HOLD STAFF ACCOUNTABLE
- By writing GOALS for mouth care, you can spend BILLABLE TIME training staff
- Example,”Pt will spit two times during mouth care with cues from assisting staff to reduce the risk of developing aspiration pneumonia.”
- YOUR SKILL is the skill of assessing:
- who is at risk to develop PNA
- how that risk can be reduced
- By writing GOALS for mouth care, you can spend BILLABLE TIME training staff
- And don’t forget to PICK AND CHOOSE your battles…
- Soak dentures, BUT STILL BRUSH THEM
- FLOSSING makes MORE OF A DIFFERENCE than brushing
- BAN TOOTHETTES for residents with teeth
- If you have to skip the toothpaste, so be it. BRUSHING is what makes the difference.
- Train staff to be patient—Not every resident will allow mouth care right away. Relationship building is a huge part of successful mouth care programming. Other helpful hints:
- Sing to the resident
- Use a mirror so they can watch
- Use hand over hand to facilitate participation and carryover
Food 4 Thought 